The Case for Scottish Independence

Scottish Education and Society since 1945

“…Nevertheless, difficulties of classifying the Scottish case arise because the ideology of Scottish nationalism has generally been civic rather than ethnic (Jackson, 2020;McCrone, 1998). Moreover, because, as we have seen in earlier chapters, nearly all citizens of Scotland now have at least a decade of schooling (up to mid-secondary school), and a majority have more than that, it is inaccurate to describe the 'education divide' as setting the uneducated against the educated.…”

“…Because devolution quickly became the settled consensus after 1999 (as we will see below), there did emerge a new political tension between the supporters of this new status quo -who were generally well-educated and well-connected -and the nationalist opposition that wanted to take the powers of the parliament further (McCrone, 2019;Paterson, 2009a). But the movement for Scottish independence, precisely because it had been on the left politically since the 1970s, has always had the capacity to attract to it the rebellious instincts of the young and educated (Jackson, 2020). The prominence of young activists with university degrees was a widely noted feature of the campaigning for independence in the 2014 referendum (Crowther, 2018;Paterson, 2015d).…”

Of Oil and Agency: Scotland and the Material Conditions of National Imagining

“…This does not depreciate the importance of factors that pre-existed oil discoveries, and also formed foundations of Scottish national consciousness: for instance, communitarian, local-democratic and Labourist traditions (e.g. Jackson, 2020;Paterson, 2002). These factors, which powered the pre-history of SNP electoral breakthroughs, were nonetheless recentred by two factors: the possibility of an imaginative break from "dependency", given the possible tax revenues; and the need to reimagine national agency, not just within a British (or even British imperial) context, but also within and against the emergent powers of transnational capitalism.…”

“…While much research centres on its post-1980s slogan of "independence in Europe" (e.g. Jackson, 2020), in practice much of Scottish nationalist adaptation to globalisation depended on oil 158 -FOLEY revenues. Much of this consisted of detailed statistical arguments about GERS (Cuthbert & Cuthbert, 1998, 2001, 2011Wilson, 1997).…”

Paradiplomacy as nation-building: The politics of Scotland’s international development policy (1999–2022)

“…Yet: the actual story has been more nuanced. As shown by Jackson (2020), 'the case for Scottish independence' has actually evolved. From a 'moderate' national narrative constructed around the claims of third-way social democracy and supply-side growth to a more 'radical' project with a strong focus on equality and social justice.…”