... It would be naive to hope that investments would flow to the new entities in a period of political instability. Wage earners and pensioners are not convinced that they would be securely protected against the consequences of the crisis in independent Scotland, Catalonia, the Basque Country, Flanders and Northern Italy.
In addition to differences in the ranks of regional parties and movements, the local national political forces are staunch opponents of separatism. Conservatives, Liberals and the opposition Labour set aside their differences and voted against Scottish independence. In Spain, the idea of a Catalan referendum was rejected by the conservatives in the ruling People’s Party and by the ...
The global fervour surrounding the referendum in Scotland has blown over
The global fervour surrounding the referendum in Scotland has blown over. Scotland will remain a part of the United Kingdom and the foreign policy consequences of its possible independence will not materialize. However, the outcome ...
Nor is Scotland unique
Now that the dust is settling on the referendum on Scottish Independence held on September 18, 2014 we are better able to see it in perspective. That 45 per cent of voters in Scotland voted ‘yes’, and on a ballot where 85 ...
... accept that today they are nothing more than “junior partners”, moreover ones being deprived of a whole range of rights enjoyed by the English. Scottish separatism was further boosted by the discovery of oil and gas deposits off the shore of Scotland late in the 1970ies. Another factor is the separatism of Northern Ireland, rooted in the sentiment of Catholics living in the Northern part of the island craving for the union with the larger part of Ireland independent from the Protestant British.
The second European “pain point” ...
Interview with David McCrone
Interview
The referendum on Scottish independence, planned for autumn 2014, has attracted a great deal of media attention both in Europe and further afield. Many experts believe that if Scotland were to gain full independence, it could create a “domino effect” provoking other stateless nations to secede from their respective states.
David McCrone, professor of Sociology at the University of Edinburgh, gives his analysis of ...
