Of central concern to this special issue are the etymologies, epistemologies, tautologies, typologies and ontologies of ‘democracy’.

Ironically, and in many ways troublingly, ‘democracy’ is often found on the tongues, minds and pages of many individuals across every citizenry involved in the global telos. We assign virtues and curses to it; declare war or peace in the name of it; and try to organise our societies through it without having the possibility of knowing what it is.

The central goal of this special issue is to provide alternatives for the growth of ‘democracy’ and especially the diversification of its typical ‘Western’ narrative.