Scottish Independence And The Idea Of Britain

This book offers a fresh perspective on the question of Scotland's relationship with Britain. It challenges the standard concept of the Scots as an ancient nation whose British identity only emerged in the early modern era.

For more than a decade now, the issue of Scottish independence has been one of the key features in British politics and has raised questions as to the likely survival of the United Kingdom in the post Brexit era. In Scotland, the SNP has been in government since 2007 and has established a political hegemony that makes it the most successful political party in terms of electoral politics in Europe. Yet, the political philosophy of this movement has not been studied in any great depth and a number of basic questions remain unanswered, such as why is the movement non-violent and constitutional? Why does it believe that Scotland as a nation should exercise its right to self-determination and how does it square a largely outward-looking and cosmopolitan vision of society with nationalism? This book answers these important questions. By examining the evolution of nationalist ideas on Scottish history, its relationship to the philosophy of nationalism, as well as how the Treaty of Union between Scotland and England created an unusual legal and constitutional framework, this book offers new insights into Scottish history and Scotland's place within the Union and relates it to wider international and imperial British history.

Traces the development of the ideology of modern Scottish nationalism from the 1960s to the independence referendum in 2014.

What is Scottish independence for? Since the referendum, Scottish independence has been captured by conservative forces. Scotland After Britain argues for fidelity to the true meaning of the word independence. It should mean not only a break from the failing British state, but also from the prison of free trade and militarism that has delivered successive crises. Most of all, independence must honestly address the huge injustices of income, wealth and power that continue to define Scottish society, by restoring agency to working class communities and voters. Scotland After Britain shines a spotlight on pro-independence politics since Brexit and the pandemic. The Scottish national question has emerged as the biggest fracture in the British state after Brexit. The independence movement emerged from mass public disenchantment at the status quo, yet the SNP continues governing as if that disenchantment never happened, and the party leadership appears increasingly ambivalent about the risks of demanding independence. Most of all, the British state remains hostile to allowing a second referendum, while the SNP leadership has been unwilling to sanction protest beyond the ballot box. Where do we go from here? Scotland After Britain argues Brexit could force the movement to engage in a reckoning with the true stakes of independence, a process that will inevitably require a breach with the SNP’s establishment vision.

In September 2014, a referendum will be held in Scotland to decide whether or not Scotland should become independent and cease to be part of Great Britain.In this book, two of the nation’s leading political commentators will address both sides of this historic argument. George Kerevan will put forward the case for voting Yes, and Alan Cochrane will make the case for voting No. In one book, the first title in this Great Debate series, readers will be given the strongest possible arguments for both sides, fully preparing them to make up their own minds on a decision that will shape the future of Scotland and of Great Britain.

On 18 September 2014, Scots will decide their future: should the country quit the United Kingdom and take control of its own destiny, or should it remain part of what advocates call the most successful political and economic union of modern times? Everyone in the country has a stake in this decision. Now, in this fascinating and insightful new book, David Torrance charts the countdown to the big day, weaving his way through a minefield of claim and counterclaim, and knocking down fictions and fallacies from both Nationalists and Unionists. He plunges into the key questions that have shaped an often-fraught argument, from the future of the pound to the shape of an independent Scottish army. With access to the strategists and opinion-makers on both sides of the political divide, this book goes straight to the heart of the great debate, providing an incisive, authoritative, occasionally trenchant guide to the most dramatic constitutional question of our times - the battle for Britain.

In a thought-provoking analysis Keating reviews the political, constitutional, and legal issues around Scottish independence and the political economy of independence, surveying the options for a social and economic project for an independent Scotland.

The classic text, with a new introduction by Anthony Barnett In this classic text, first published in 1977, Tom Nairn memorably depicts the “slow foundering” of the United Kingdom on the rocks of constitutional anachronism, its fall from empire and the gathering force of civic nationalism. Rich in comparisons between the nationalisms of the British Isles and those of the wider world, The Break-Up of Britain concludes by reflecting on the Janus-faced nature of national identity. Postscripts from the Thatcher and New Labour years trace the political strategies whose upshot accelerated the demise of a British order they were intended to serve. As a second Scottish independence referendum beckons, a new introduction by openDemocracy’s Anthony Barnett underlines the book’s enduring relevance.