ABSTRACT
This chapter attempts a modest contribution to better understanding globalisation and secessionism. This task is approached by developing some hypotheses about the relationship between (neo-liberal) globalisation and secessionism that could be tested in future research. The chapter first offers some preliminary remarks about 'globalisation', essentially arguing that the prefix 'neo-liberal' should be attached to it if the concept is to have any explanatory value. It then discusses changed 'conditions of possibility' associated with neo-liberal globalisation, under which secessionist politics have flourished in recent years. The chapter focuses on the causal relationship between neo-liberal globalisation and secessionist mobilisation. It proposes a research programme that poses concrete, testable propositions about causal relationships between identifiable phenomena — neo-liberal globalisation and secessionist mobilisations. Such understanding is essential if we are to avoid in this century the tribulations of one of the most destructive political forces of the twentieth century.
