The Scottish Spring

On 5 May 2011 Scottish voters gave the Scottish Nationalist Party, the SNP, an outright majority in their parliament at Holyrood, Edinburgh, under their leader Alex Salmond. The SNP said in their manifesto that they would hold a referendum towards the end of the parliament which will last five years. What is the meaning of this dramatic turn for Scotland, for Britain as a country, for the United Kingdom as a state, and for the other nations, especially England. What are the forces and energies being stirred and how may the political parties respond. Since it started OurKingdom has covered the shaping constitutional and democratic implications of the UK's national question. Now we welcome 'The Scottish Spring'.

See the short series, Britain after 5 May, for 28 articles of immediate reaction to a pivotal moment for Britain, democratic reform, the party political landscape and the fate of the union. 

Alex Salmond, Rupert Murdoch and the pitfalls of crony capitalism

Gerry Hassan 27 April 2012

Up until now, the SNP has been seen as as a decent government, less in thrall to the corporate classes than Cameron's Coalition. But the pact made between Scotland's First Minister and the Murdoch media empire punctures this moral high-ground. Can he reclaim it?

Can the Scottish Nationalists embrace post-nationalism, the only route to independence?

Gerry Hassan 23 October 2011
Scotland's governing party looks forward to independence. But what does this mean in our time? A form of post-nationalist nationalism that embraces the world.

What do you do when democracy fails you? The crisis of Scottish Labour

Gerry Hassan 17 October 2011
Scottish Labour has finally woken up, roused by a speech from the Shadow Foreign Secretary. The old Labour hymns are dead, he admitted - but when will the party find a new tune?

A Different Pulse of Politics: It’s Time for a Radical SNP Vision for Scotland

Gerry Hassan 4 September 2011
With its opponents in disarray the Scottish Nationalist Party has a glorious opportunity to take a fresh approach to governing and unlock a broad movement for self-government in Scotland. This is how it should begin.

After the deluge: the meaning of ‘the public’ and the power of self-determination

Gerry Hassan 7 August 2011
The recent Compass initiative on the lack of responsibility of Britain's elites is timely, but we need to have a much wider and more ambitious debate about the meaning of the public. Part of the answer can be found in developing the idea of self-determination -- something already under way in Scotland.

The Conservatives, the Union, Scotland and the British State

Gerry Hassan 11 July 2011
The defence of the union in true Tory tradition has begun, with a speech by former Prime Minister John Major: conciliatory on the surface, while aiming at protecting the bastardised British state

The start of a pan-British debate on the union?

Gerry Hassan 5 July 2011
Is a serious, pan-British debate starting on the future of the union and the rise of the SNP in Scotland? Yesterday's BBC Newsnight finally showed that the Westminster media bubble is capable of engaging with the national question

UK needs a Convention for a renewed federal union: an argument from Wales

David Melding 11 June 2011
Welsh Assembly Member David Melding argues that ‘Little Britain’, as a truncated union of England and Wales, would be unlikely to survive

The Death of Positive Unionism: 10 reasons why there will be a single Scots referendum vote

Gerry Hassan 7 June 2011
To hold two referendums on Scottish independence would be without grounding or precedent, and dangerous for politics in Scotland and the UK. Westminster must drop this idea if they are to set forth a positive vision of the Union

Where is the positive Scottish nationalism?

David Torrance 6 June 2011
The Scottish First Minister is claiming that the independence of the country's legal system is under threat, while his critics say he's playing politics. Is the SNP preparing to deploy shameless tactics to win the referendum on Scottish independence?

Festival of Britain 2011: microcosm of a troubled Union

Niki Seth-Smith 2 June 2011
As Scotland faces the prospect of a vote on independence, the Festival of Britain 2011 is underway in central London. Designed to celebrate the anniversary of the 1951 exhibition and capture the spirit of modern Britain, the festival instead reveals a Union in crisis and denial

Can we help our friends in the South? A Scotsman asks his compatriots to be generous

Gerry Hassan 29 May 2011
The success of the SNP on 5 May has triggered bad tempered and pained responses south of the border and a sense of loss at even the thought of Britain breaking up. England deserves better, can the Scots help?

The BBC's silence on Scotland and the politics of Little Britain

Gerry Hassan 26 May 2011
The SNP majority win in Scotland is of momentous importance to the United Kingdom. Yet the BBC's post-election coverage has been notably silent on Scotland, reflecting a deep crisis of unionism

Conflicting fantasies of Scottish independence - and building a reality

Gerry Hassan 24 May 2011
Scottish independence has long been a political fantasy. Before the elections, the SNP allowed for conflicting visions of an independent future. Now, whatever the referendum result, we must listen and engage with each-other's hopes for Scotland

How do we talk about Scotland?

Anthony Barnett 24 May 2011
How should we talk about Scotland and the coming referendum on independence? A non-partisan debate is needed that includes all the nations, acknowledges the English question, and exists outside of the Westminster circle. But how will this be achieved?

Restating Scotland

Restating Scotland

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OurNHS

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Democratic Wealth

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G4S: securing whose world?

G4S - securing whose world? Image of security camera focused on G4S

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Re-birth of the nation?

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Devalue or Else!

Roj, Flickr

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Can Europe Make It?

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