Part I of this book has analysed the theory and practice of popular dissent. The purpose of this genealogical inquiry was to illustrate, through an example, how modern dissent has been framed, and how this framing process has delineated contemporary understandings of human agency. I argued that conventional perceptions of popular dissent are characterised by a recurring inability to come to terms with the death of God. Among the most noteworthy manifestations of this refusal to accept the contingent character of foundations are grand theories of dissent, approaches that search for ahistoric and universal patterns of social change.

Part II investigates whether or not this long-standing perception of dissent remains adequate in a world that has undergone fundamental transformation. Processes of globalisation, I argue, have led to a situation in which ahistoric and spatial modes of representation are no longer able to capture the increasingly transversal nature of dissent. Rather than searching for an essence of dissent and relying on several separate levels of analysis, I advance a discursive approach that focuses on transversal dynamics and on the constituted dimensions of dissident practices. Two parallel shifts are necessary for this purpose. The first one is of a methodological and epistemological nature. It entails moving away from grand theories towards an approach that recognises the contingency of foundations, that deals with, rather than circumvents, the death of God.