ABSTRACT
This chapter looks at the populist use of secessionist arguments in divided societies and aims to explore the relationship between constitutional democracy and referendum in contexts characterized by new waves of populism. It explores the debate on how to proceduralize secession in light of the notion of “exit-related conditionality.” Comparative lawyers have analyzed the provisions concerning the possibility of secession and also legal and political theorists have dealt with the issue of how to justify the option of secession even in legal systems whose constitutions say nothing about that, including the Canadian one. The chapter highlights some reasons for prudence in the use of referendums in the contexts of representative democracy. The obsession of populist movements with the “politics of immediacy” inevitably results in questioning many of the instruments of representative democracy and in emphasizing the importance of instruments of direct and participatory democracy.
