On the Threshold of Independence? Scotland One Year after the SNP Election Victory

In 2007, marking both the tercentenary of the Anglo-Scottish Union and the tenth anniversary of the successful Devolution Referendum, the May elections caused a political earthquake, breaking the nearly five decades of hegemony of Scottish Labour at the national and, even more emphatically, at the l...

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Main Author: Eberhard Bort
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: European Institute of Romania 2008-06-01
Series:Romanian Journal of European Affairs
Subjects:
Online Access:https://rjea.ier.gov.ro/wp-content/uploads/articole/RJEA_Vol8_No2_On_the_Threshold_of_Independence_Scotland_One_Year_after_the_SNP_Election_Victory.pdf
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author Eberhard Bort
author_facet Eberhard Bort
author_sort Eberhard Bort
collection DOAJ
description In 2007, marking both the tercentenary of the Anglo-Scottish Union and the tenth anniversary of the successful Devolution Referendum, the May elections caused a political earthquake, breaking the nearly five decades of hegemony of Scottish Labour at the national and, even more emphatically, at the local government level and ushering in an SNP (Scottish National Party) minority government at Holyrood. Was this the proof that devolution did not, as George Robertson had claimed, ‘kill Nationalism stone dead’, proof that it was, rather, a stepping stone, or a ‘staging post’? If the latter, where to? Just underlining that devolution, pace Ron Davies, was a process rather than an event, part of what Henry McLeish calls the ‘evolution of devolution’? Towards greater autonomy or towards regaining Scottish independence as a sovereign nation-state?
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spelling doaj-art-a581cf35cdf841d29356f741d5ef406b2025-08-20T03:29:15ZengEuropean Institute of RomaniaRomanian Journal of European Affairs1582-82712008-06-01824055On the Threshold of Independence? Scotland One Year after the SNP Election VictoryEberhard Bort0Academic Coordinator of the Institute of Governance and a Lecturer in Politics at the University of EdinburghIn 2007, marking both the tercentenary of the Anglo-Scottish Union and the tenth anniversary of the successful Devolution Referendum, the May elections caused a political earthquake, breaking the nearly five decades of hegemony of Scottish Labour at the national and, even more emphatically, at the local government level and ushering in an SNP (Scottish National Party) minority government at Holyrood. Was this the proof that devolution did not, as George Robertson had claimed, ‘kill Nationalism stone dead’, proof that it was, rather, a stepping stone, or a ‘staging post’? If the latter, where to? Just underlining that devolution, pace Ron Davies, was a process rather than an event, part of what Henry McLeish calls the ‘evolution of devolution’? Towards greater autonomy or towards regaining Scottish independence as a sovereign nation-state?https://rjea.ier.gov.ro/wp-content/uploads/articole/RJEA_Vol8_No2_On_the_Threshold_of_Independence_Scotland_One_Year_after_the_SNP_Election_Victory.pdfdevolutionscotlandscottish national party
spellingShingle Eberhard Bort
On the Threshold of Independence? Scotland One Year after the SNP Election Victory
Romanian Journal of European Affairs
devolution
scotland
scottish national party
title On the Threshold of Independence? Scotland One Year after the SNP Election Victory
title_full On the Threshold of Independence? Scotland One Year after the SNP Election Victory
title_fullStr On the Threshold of Independence? Scotland One Year after the SNP Election Victory
title_full_unstemmed On the Threshold of Independence? Scotland One Year after the SNP Election Victory
title_short On the Threshold of Independence? Scotland One Year after the SNP Election Victory
title_sort on the threshold of independence scotland one year after the snp election victory
topic devolution
scotland
scottish national party
url https://rjea.ier.gov.ro/wp-content/uploads/articole/RJEA_Vol8_No2_On_the_Threshold_of_Independence_Scotland_One_Year_after_the_SNP_Election_Victory.pdf
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