Suchergebnisse

The first half of 2023 saw considerable change in Scotland's politics, with the resignation of First Minister Nicola Sturgeon and a divisive and bitter leadership contest in the SNP. The nature and scope of this political crisis is not yet clear, and this editorial looks briefly at the prospects for the SNP, and its new leader Humza Yousaf, with the significant difficulties he faces in steadying the ship.

This editorial essay reviews thirty years of Scottish Affairs, from its 'prehistoric' roots in the Scottish Government Yearbooks, through its initial launch and overall development. It reiterates this journal's various commitments, not least to providing a forum for, and to encourage, well-informed debate on, and around, Scotland.

Despite persistent debate about the status and character of Scotland's Catholic community the question of how distinctive – if at all – Scotland's Catholics are within a wider British Catholicism is seldom asked. Utilising the newly released Catholics in Britain Survey of 2019 this short article sketches out some comparative evidence on Catholic religiosity, moral values, family, and personal networks. It concludes that Scotland's Catholicism is closely similar, in terms of such measures, to a wider British Catholic community.

Two years – 2014 and 2015 – saw remarkable and profound developments in Scotland's political history. This introduction to a Special Issue of Scottish Affairs that examines these developments outlines Scotland's tumultuous years, why they are inevitably puzzling, and why they are perhaps unresolvable. It then notes key and salient points from the various contributions in the volume.

This article situates the contemporary evidential position on Scotland's sectarianism within some longer-term and ongoing debates. It does so by addressing three key aspects of sectarianism in Scotland. Firstly it explores long-standing concerns about sectarianism in Scotland, and the puzzle that sectarianism frequently seems to be someone else's problem. It then outlines some central evidential claims made about sectarianism in the 1980s and why our increasing knowledge about religion in Scotland's social structure appear to bear them out. Finally, the article concludes by questioning how far we can conceive of 'Protestants' and 'Catholics' as divided in the personal, informal and intimate spheres of contemporary Scottish life.

There are a number of tall tales about how religion shapes opinions on Scotland's constitutional future. This article outlines some of the more common of these, as well as claims of a recent 'silent revolution' amongst Scotland's Catholics. These are examined through the evidence of Scottish Social Attitudes Surveys. The article concludes that the apparent associations between religious group and support for independence in fact spring from differential experiences of secularisation. Far from demonstrating shifts in religious opinion, the evidence suggests that religious belonging now has little or no relevance to attitudes towards independence.