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The Scottish Path to Independence
Vol - XLIX No. 37, September 13, 2014 | Pritam Singh Web Exclusives
Bibtex Endnote RIS Goo gle Scho lar Print Em ail
The outcom e of the Scottish referendu m vote on 18 Septem be r notwithstanding , the major le gacy of the vote would b e
the transparen t and dem ocratic nature of the process lead ing to the vote.
Pritam Sin gh (ps ingh@brookes .ac.uk) teache s at the Depa rtmen t of Accounting, Finance and Econom ics , Faculty of
Busi nes s, Oxford Brookes Univers ity, Oxford.
The outcom e of the referendu m on Scottis h ind epend ence from Britain is certainl y of hug e significan ce for Britain,
Europe and even beyond but what has been missed in the debate on Scottish independence is the significance of the
proces s leading to the outcome . The process of arriving at the outcom e determ ines the legitima cy and the quality of
the outcom e. In the Scottish cas e, the proces s has be en s o dem ocratic, open , and transp arent that it is clo se to bei ng
exemplary. The decision to have a referendum has been arrived at after a long period of debate and negotiations. That
Scotland, whi ch becam e a part of the Uni ted Kingdo m in 1707, has a dis tinctive identity is very well recogni sed by all
sid es on the debate. This recogn ition of dis tinctive iden tity was given further boos t durin g Tony Blair’s prime
min is tership when the long s tandin g dem and of Scottis h people to have their own parl iam ent was accepted and the
Scottish Parl iam ent with devolved powe rs s tarted functioni ng in 19 99. This de volved power was partly aimed to
weaken the dem and for full ind epen dence wh ich was at that time a m inori ty pol itical tendency. The deci si on to create
the Scottish Parl iam ent by the Blair governme nt was not seen as a pa rty partis an initiative but was arrived at in a
cons ens ual mann er by all sides of the Wes tmin ster-ba se d politica l es tablis hment. The three mai ns tream British
politica l parties - the Cons ervative, Labour and the Liberal Dem ocrats - all agreed on the need for a Scottis h
Parliam ent with devolved po wers .
The role of the Scottish National Party
The Scottish Na tional Party (SNP), formed in 1934 , has bee n the ma in cham pion of comple te indep enden ce althou gh
sub se quently the dem and for indepen dence ha s be en su pported by the Scottis h Social ist Party and the Scottis h
Green Party. SNP rem aine d a minor poli tical current in Scottish pol itics which for a long time ha s bee n dom inated by
the Labou r party. Even the estab lis hm ent of the Scottish Parli am ent in 1999 did not ena ble the SNP to becom e the
larges t, ruling politica l party although it em erged as the s econd larges t party and the main oppos ition party.
However, in 2007 the party emerged as the s ingl e larges t party in the Scottish parl iam ent and form ed a m inori ty
governme nt with su pport from the Green Party. In 2011, it gain ed an abs olute majo rity in the Scottish Parliamen t but
still did not clai m that its electoral victory should be see n as an evidence of Scottish peopl e’s sup port for complete
indep ende nce. It put forwa rd a cas e for Scottish ind epen dence wi th a dem and for referend um on the issue . On the
oppos ite side, the UK governm ent did not ignore the ele ctoral victory of the SNP and graduall y came to accept the need
for referendum to determ ine Scottish peo ple’ s choi ce regard ing indepen dence. This eventually resu lted in the UK
government and the Scottish government agreeing in 2013 on the arrangements for the referendum. 18 September,
2014 date was agreed for the referendum vote and the question on the vote agreed was: Should Scotland be an
indep ende nt country? It was als o agreed that there would be only two choices for the voters: Yes or No. Although the
SNP wanted a third choice of grea ter devolution of powe rs to Scotland sho rt of comple te indepe nden ce, it eventua lly
agreed to the UK governmen t’s ins istence on m akin g a clear choi ce betwee n Yes and No.
Secess ion – Military suppression or political solution?
There are not m any examples of su ch agreed way of resolving the dem ands for secess ion. The closes t one be fore
this ha s be en the Quebec refere ndum to sec ede from Canada in which the s eces sionis ts los t the vote. Most
dem ands for se cessio n get resolved either by mili tary suppres sion of the secess ionist m ovement or by the
sece ss ionists winning the m ilitary battle and achi eving inde pende nce. In both cas es, the leg itim acy of the outcome
rema ins a contes ted is sue. The mos t well-kn own examp le of peace ful sece ss ion (“the velvet divorce”) is the
sep aration of Czech Republic an d Slovakia but here the elites of the two regions agre ed to sep arate; the dem ocratic
choice of the peo ple of the s ecedin g regio n Slovakia was not as certained .
In the case of Baltic States of Estoni a, Latvia and Lithuan ia, these states got independe nce through peaceful means of
mas sive mas s m obilis ation bu t no vote was all owed . Russ ia, the dom inant region of the crum bli ng Soviet empi re, that
had econ om ic and pol itical in terests in keep ing control over the Baltic states , was not in a fit state-mil itarily and
Vol - XLIX No. 3 7
September 13, 2014
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9/19/2014 The Scottish Path to Independence | Economic and Political Weekly
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politica lly- to suppre ss the inde pend ence m oves of thes e states but now it constantly rese nts in different ways, as
see n mo st starkly in the recent Ukrainia n case, that these form er Soviet republics managed to becom e indep ende nt.
The dis puted ou tcome is significan tly due to the lack of perceived legitim acy of the process of achie ving independen ce
in the cas e of som e of the form er Soviet republics .
The most recent case of sece ssion (South Sudan) is als o interes ting from the view point of the proces s of achieving
sece ss ion. Althoug h there have been violen t conflicts du e to perso nal po litical rivalrie s, the leg itima cy of the s eces si on
has not been doubted due to the referendum vote that had led to secession.
Conclusion
In the Scottish case, almos t every aspect regarding the case for and against independence has been debated and
mos t si gnifica ntly in the form of national ly televised deb ates be tween Alex Salmod , the First Minister of Scotland,
arguing the case for independence and Alistair Darling, a Labour leader, arguing the case against independence on
behal f of all the three ma ins tream British parties . Whatever the outcome of the referen dum vote on 18 Septemb er
mig ht be, the maj or legacy of the vote wou ld be the trans parent and dem ocratic nature of the process lea ding to the
vote. It would no t be an exaggeratio n to say that Scottish exampl e mi ght becom e the tem plate for res olving
sece ss ionist dis putes in the proce ss . The very high in tensi ty of interes t sh own by Catalonia, the region with a dem and
for seces sion from Spain, in the Scottis h referend um debate and vote is a pointer in this dire ction.
26
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