概述苏格兰民族运动成因
Chapter One The Path of Modern Scottish Nationalist
Movement
Call for Scottish ‘Home Rule’
From the mid-19th century, there was a growing feeling that
there shouldbe devolution of control over Scottish affairs, but
support for restoration of fullindependence was limited. The
"home rule" movement for a Scottish Assembly wasfirst taken up
in 1853 by the National Association for the Vindication of
ScottishRights. A key element in this movement was the
comparison with Ireland, which, itwas noted, received more
support from the British Government than Scotland. In1885, the
Post of Secretary for Scotland and the Scottish Office were re-
established topromote Scotland's interests and express its
concerns to the British had its own
identity, recognised by the state, but firmly part of the
the time a Scottish Home Rule bill was first
presented to parliament in 1913,its progress was interrupted by
World War I and subsequently became overshadowedby the Easter
Rising and Irish War of Independence. In 1921, the Scots
NationalLeague formed as a body, primarily based in London,
seeking Scottish independence. The League established The Scots
Independent newspaper in 1926 and in 1928 ithelped the Glasgow
University Scottish Nationalist Association to form the
NationalParty of Scotland (NPS), the aim of which was a separate
Scottish state. One of theNational Party of Scotland's founders
was Hugh MacDiarmid, a poet who had begunpromoting a Scottish
literature and who argued that only a cultural revival
couldcreate conditions for the establishment of Scotland as a
political entity. The NPScooperated with the Scottish Party, and
these merged in 1934 to form the ScottishNational Party (SNP).
MacDiarmid and his friends may have brought about there-birth of
Scottish nationalism as an idea but for another generation it
was not apolitical force.
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Post-World War II and the Rise of the Modern SNP
The concept of full independence, or the less controversial
home rule, did notre-enter the political mainstream until 1960,
after the famous Wind of Change speechby UK Prime Minister
Harold Macmillan. ( Myers, Frank, 2000:555–75) This
speechmarked the start of a rapid pace of decolonisation in
Africa and the end of the BritishEmpire. The UK had already
suffered the international humiliation of the 1956 SuezCrisis,
which showed that it was no longer the superpower it had been
before World War II. For many in Scotland, this symbolised the
end of popular imperialism and theImperial unity that had united
the then-prominent Scottish Unionist Party. TheUnionist Party
subsequently began a steady decline in SNP was
brought to national prominence in 1967, when Winnie Ewing wona
by-election in Hamilton. Britain's mainstream political parties
discovered a newinterest in the idea of devolving powers to
Scotland. In the 1970s, the Labourgovernment prepared to give
voters in Scotland a referendum on devolution. When itwas held
in 1979, a narrow majority of those voting supported change. But
becausethe legislation had required that at least 40% of the
entire electorate turn out to voteYes, the referendum failed at
that time. Within months, Margaret Thatcher was inpower at
Westminster. Devolving power to Scotland was not on her agenda.
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Chapter Two Political Economy of Union
Significance of Economics in Independence Debate
National independence is traditionally an institutional
matter, usually driven bylofty calls for legitimacy,
recognition, democracy and freedom from the shackles
ofautocratic oppression. However, in Scotland’s case, it is
particularly modern andpragmatic as the argument of independence
is largely focused on economy so a visit to Scotland in
February 2012 David Cameron made a token referenceto 300 years
of partnership, but defended the Union largely on the grounds
that itprovides value for money. 'Today, Scotland has a currency
which takes into accountthe needs of [the] Scottish economy as
well as the rest of the UK when setting interestrates', he said.
'And it can borrow at rates that are among the lowest in
Europe.'(Stanley, 2012:53) The nationalists, instead of making
chest-thumping speech ofBrave Heart or Jacobites Rising, are
just as businesslike and prosaic in their campaignfor
independence. At the Hugo Young Lecture in January 2012 SNP
leader AlexSalmond said that he would make the case for
independence 'as the means by whichthe Scottish economy can grow
more strongly and sustainably; by which Scotland cantake its
rightful place as a responsible member of the world community'.
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Economics and Nationalism in Early Years
‘During the nineteenth century, economic arguments seemed
strongly to favourunion as the heavy industries of the Scottish
lowlands thrived in imperial markets. Itsindustrial bourgeoisie
was firmly wedded to the Empire and Union, source of
itsprosperity. The working class occasionally showed nationalist
inclinations, but thelabour movement was equally unwilling to
risk its welfare and was stronglycommitted to free
trade.’(Keating, 2011:6) At that time, big was beautiful as
theBritish empire offered big domestic market and vast foreign
markets through imperialconquest, and access to raw materials—
all advantageous conditions for free fitted into
the imperial economy as an important industrial centre,
enjoyingthe benefits afforded by the Union with home
rule movement flourished around the First World War, before
beingkilled off by the subsequent slump and convinced the Labour
movement that safetylay in the UK connection. ‘Scotland's heavy
industries were hit hard by theDepression and, unlike in the
south and midlands of England, there was no generalrecovery in
the 1930s. Business looked to government in London for help
throughtariff protection and subsidies and merged their
businesses into UK-wideconglomerates and cartels. Labour ended
its flirtation with nationalism and alsoturned to the centre for
help’. (Keating, 2011:6)
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Chapter Three European Integration.......22
Impact of European Integration to Member States
.......22
A Tortuous Relationship between Scotland....23
Attitudes to EU in Scotland.......26
Summary .......28
Chapter Four Party and Politics ......29
Transformed Scottish Politics .......29
Difference in Leadership and Campaign.......29
Emergence of Scottish Nationalism, Labour’s
Inability...30
Summary .......34
Chapter Five Shifting Identities and Declining Britishness
....35
Alleged Decline of Britishness......35
.2 The Data....36
Summary .......44
Chapter Five Shifting Identities and Declining Britishness
Alleged Decline of Britishness
Political commentators and academics have for some years
been predicting ‘thebreakup of Britain’. There is a wealth of
books and articles, discussions andprogrammes that claim that
despite the durability or otherwise of the British
state,Britishness is in decline, and increasingly problematic.
There are many competingexplanations for this: devolution across
the UK, especially in Scotland;multiculturalism; European Union
in its different manifestations; and long-termpolitical and
cultural factors having to do with the decline of the empire and
the lossof global power (Bechhofer & McCRONE, 2007:251-60). This
alleged decline ofBritishness is assumed to be resulting from
one or both of two processes: the Englishare becoming more
‘English’ at the expense of being British; and the Scots
areperceiving themselves as increasingly Scottish, disengaging
from the British identityfurther as a result.
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Conclusion
The Union was a uniquely British form of territorial
accommodation. It was lessthan a unitary state but more than a
mere marriage of convenience. It can beunderstood only in
relation to a distinctive British mode of governing reliant on
elitemanagement and tacit understandings. This mode of governing
has, if not entirelyended, been changed beyond recognition with
the internal and external restructuringof the state. There have
been successive phases of Union, from the reluctantacceptance of
the early years, through the triumphalism of the nineteenth
century, tothe managed dependency of the twentieth. In the
meantime, it is clear that calls formore ‘home rule’ in
Scotland are gradually gaining prominence in the past
threecenturies, albeit undergoing wax and wane in different
periods. The growing Scottishnationalism is the result of a
number of issues working together and some of the
mostsignificant factors have been identified in this paper.
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Reference (omitted)
