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Narrating Scotland: in Pursuit of a Nation a Case Study of Nation and Nationalism As Utilized in the Scottish National Party

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Narrating Scotland: in Pursuit of a Nation a Case Study of Nation and Nationalism As Utilized in the Scottish National Party Master’s dissertation Narrating Scotland: in pursuit of a nation A case study of nation and nationalism as utilized in the Scottish National Party Author: Evelina Berggren Supervisor: Martin Nilsson Examiner: Emil Uddhammar Term: ST21 Subject: Political science Level: Master Course code: 5SK30E ABSTRACT The nationalist party in Scotland, the Scottish National Party (SNP), has attracted attention through the years for its election successes as a party and as a movement utilizing a modern type of nationalist approach. This thesis seeks an answer to the research question “How does the leader of the Scottish National Party depict the nation of Scotland?” to explore what nation of Scotland this modern nationalist party depicts. The answer lies in what is called “civic nationalism”, an approach void of ethnocentrism. The depiction revealed a nation of Scotland where anyone can belong, and where an approach of openness and inclusion in civic interests from democratic concerns, social issues, economy, business, immigration to the outside world ruled the narration. The great aims driving this approach is the vision of realizing Scotland’s “great potential” and role as an equal partner in the world arena. Keywords Scotland, SNP, Nationalism, Nation, Democracy, Economy, Independence, Case study Table of contents 1 Introduction 1 1.1 The distinct Scotland 1 1.2 Purpose and research question 3 1.3 Limitations 3 2 The case of Scotland: a history 4 3 The theoretical framework 7 3.1 Nationalism 7 3.1.1 Down to the roots 7 3.1.2 Whose nation? 8 3.1.3 How does it work? 10 3.1.4 State and sovereignty 12 3.1.5 Nation is narration 13 3.2 Previous research 15 3.2.1 The nationalism of the SNP 15 4 Method 19 4.1 A case study design 19 4.1.1 Content and thematic analysis 19 4.1.2 Source and materials 21 4.2 Operationalisation: Finding Scotland 22 4.2.1 The people of Scotland 22 4.2.2 Democracy 22 4.2.3 The Economy 23 4.2.4 The Outside World 23 4.3 The analysis process 23 4.4 Validity and reliability 24 5 Analysis 26 5.1 Category 1: The people of Scotland 27 5.1.1 The importance of words 27 5.1.2 Defining belonging 29 5.2 Category 2 – Democracy 30 5.2.1 Life in Scotland 30 5.2.2 The society of the nation 32 5.2.3 Democratic interests in Scotland 34 5.2.4 Brexit and independence 36 5.2.5 Protecting Scotland’s interests 38 5.2.6 Who is in charge? 40 5.3 Category 3 – The Economy 42 5.3.1 A nation and its economy 42 5.3.2 Economic growth 43 5.3.3 The competitive Scotland 44 5.3.4 Brexit troubles 46 5.3.5 The economy and the world 47 5.3.6 Society and economy 48 5.4 Category 4 – The outside world 50 5.4.1 Scotland in the world 51 5.4.2 Scotland in Europe 55 5.4.3 Immigration rhetoric 57 5.4.4 The relationship to the UK Government 59 6 Conclusions 62 6.1 Civic nationalism 62 6.2 Narrating Scotland 63 6.3 Contribution to future studies 64 7 References 66 List of tables 65 1 Introduction In the spring of the year 2021, with the implementation of Brexit and management of a global pandemic under way, another political issue has been revived in the United Kingdom. On the 6th of May 2021, the Scottish National Party (SNP) was re-elected for their fourth consecutive term in the Scottish Parliament on an election manifesto promising a second Scottish independence referendum (Sturgeon, 2021:2). The independence issue is far from new, but the recent election has accelerated the simmering discussion on what has been termed “the break-up of Britain”; a hypothesis that has engaged both British and world media lately (e.g., Regan, 2021; Birrell, 2021; Geoghegan, 2021; Forrest, 2021; Smith, 2021). As the Prime Minister of the UK, Boris Johnson, declared he will oppose a second independence referendum (Brooks, 2021), to which the SNP leader and First Minister of Scotland Nicola Sturgeon has warned that a rejection of a new referendum will be tantamount to a UK Government refusal of Scottish democracy (Parker, 2021), there is no denying the situation has become taut. The debate about Scotland’s constitutional future is up on the table again, that is not the matter of debate. The real question, instead, lies beyond dispute among Leavers and Remainers, media speculations and exercise of political rhetoric: What is this Scottish nation which future has sparked so much controversy? 1.1 The distinct Scotland Scotland as a distinct unit within the UK has been described as a stateless nation (Greer, 2007b:15) and a political community separate from the rest of the union (McCrone & Bechhofer, 2010). The Act of Union of 1707, which dissolved the Scottish state into the United Kingdom, never ceased the nation of Scotland’s existence (Keating & McEwan, 2017:5) keeping, for example, its legal, educational, and religious institutions (Agnew, 2018:5). In the context of the larger picture of the UK as being not one nation but a “country 1(75) of four nations”, as former Prime Minister David Cameron pictured it (Cameron, 2014), Scotland having retained a national status is not a strange concept. Calls for independence in Scotland have reoccurred ever since 1707, although few have been as supported as the current one led by the SNP. A left- leaning party, the SNP has attracted unprecedented support in Scotland governing the country since their first election victory in 2007 (BBC, 2019). This in a country previously known to only allow a party two back-to-back victories (Harvey, 2020:57). The SNP and Scotland have been at the forefront of European independence movements for years and the journey has garnered interest from the outside world. If not for curiosity, then for the impact an eventual secession in the UK would have on the surrounding world, inspiring other independence movements (Olmos Giupponi & Hofmeister, 2015:212). There is no doubt what is happening up in the north of the British Isles is not only of British, but European and worldwide interest as well. Even so, nationalism in Scotland has puzzled researchers for a long time. Scotland is breaking new ground as a modern country with a strong secessionist movement within a European, democratic society (Keating & McEwan, 2017:1) which falls outside known models for nationalist movements. Neither are there any modern European precedencies to compare. Previous research has therefore been busy trying to understand the independence movement’s place in the discourse of modern politics, as well as its origins and its causes. Often, previously published articles and books focus on modern Scottish nationalism and identity (Gunn & Schmidtke, 2015; Agnew, 2018; Arnott & Ozga, 2010), the arguments for and against independence (Liñeira & Cetrà, 2015; Keating et al., 2017), party politics in Scotland (Harvey, 2020; Duerr, 2015) and the legal perspective of independence (Tierney, 2013; Kenealy & MacLennan, 2014; Olmos Giupponi & Hofmeister, 2015). However, what this thesis seeks to do is not to explore 2(75) the independence movement, but to pursue the fundament it stands on: the nation of Scotland. The interest in this thesis lies in investigating, in their own terms, what constitutes the nation of Scotland; the nation that the SNP seeks to secede from the UK. 1.2 Purpose and research question The purpose of this thesis is to explore what narrative about the nation of Scotland the leader of the Scottish National Party and First Minister Nicola Sturgeon employs, using the research question: How does the leader of the Scottish National Party depict the nation of Scotland? 1.3 Limitations The results of this thesis are specific (Gillham, 2000:7) to the case of Scotland. The knowledge derived from this study is not claimed to be generalizable to other similar parties or movements since each case is specific to itself. The study’s function is to inform on the idea of the nation of Scotland in the SNP as an empirical example of a modern, western European and civic nationalism. 3(75) 2 The case of Scotland: a history Before the 18th Century, Scotland had been an independent country for hundreds of years. That changed in 1707 when the Scottish Parliament passed the Act of Union, formalizing Scotland into the United Kingdom of Great Britain. A long time has passed since, yet Scotland as a nation and a nationality have never disappeared (Keating & McEwan, 2017:5). Articles of the Act of Union themselves confirmed the continuation of a distinct Scotland through, for example, preserving Scots law and retaining the Kingdom of Scotland (Article XXIV). While Scotland did assimilate during the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries to a wider British state Labour’s peak in Scotland in 1966, winning half the vote, marked an all-time high for a UK main party. Since, all UK main parties have gradually lost their support in Scotland (Keating & McEwan, 2017:5) in favour of the Scottish National Party (The SNP). A party that has gone from the outskirts to dominating Scottish politics (Keating & McEwan, 2017:6). Established in 1934 through the unification of the National Party of Scotland and the Scottish Party (Broughton, 2021), the SNP struggled with support for a long time (Mycock, 2012:55). Slowly growing since the 1960s, a milestone for the establishment of the party known today was the election in 1990 of Alex Salmond as party leader (Hassan, 2009:3).
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