Introduction

This Introduction pinpoints the 2014 Ferguson unrest as the start of an investigation into violent protest and its role in liberal democracy. An overview is provided of the problems of political violence in democratic states. Legal theory and political theory are hostile to the notion of justifying protest violence, yet the case is stated that there can, using moral reasoning and rational normativity, be an argument in its favour. “Violence” is deconstructed as an evaluative construct rather than a term capable of clear definition. The theoretical frames of the book are outlined, along with the presumptions of liberal democratic philosophy that underpin the remainder of the book’s discussions.