The geographical distribution of separatist movements in the world today is, and always has been, highly skewed. At any point in history such movements arise only in particular states, and—within these states—only in particular regions. One task of a general theory of separatism is to account for this skewed geographical distribution. Mr. Sloan seems to think that the answer to this problem is ‘imperialism’, tout court. He apparently believes that any region subject to dependent development is likely to spawn separatist movements (hence his discussion of Vermont). According to Mr. Sloan ethnicity has no causal status in a theory of separatism. Thus, to pay it heed is to mistake an effect for a cause.