Suchergebnisse

There is now a considerable literature about Scottish politics, most of it concerned with nationalism and devolution, but some of it consisting of institutional and administrative studies. The purpose of this article is to review the main books and articles in the field and to assess their successes and failures in accurately portraying and predicting the recent course of Scottish politics. I shall first consider the theoretical approaches which have been used. I shall then give an account of the principal texts, which will be evaluated with particular attention paid to their explanatory and predictive value. Lastly, some suggestions are made about the lines that future research on Scottish politics might take, in the light of the record so far.

When a Scotsman wears a kilt, or a Frenchman sings the Marseillaise, it seems reasonable to put it all down to strong nationalist feeling. Scotland and France are among the oldest nations in Europe, and most people can recognize instantly the symbols and characteristics that are associated with them because they are so often manifested.But what does nationalist feeling amount to in Europe today, in political and social terms? Is Europe not at the end of the "era of nationalism" and at the start of an era of supranational unity? The European Economic Community has been enlarged this year with the addition of Britain, Ireland and Denmark, and it is possible to look forward to a sort of federal "United States of Europe" within the next couple of decades.