Stroschein, S; (2014) Institutional change and identity shift: the case of Scotland. In: Tripathy, J and Padmanabhan, S, (eds.) Becoming Minority How Discourses and Policies Produce Minorities in Europe and India. (pp. 111-129). SAGE Publications India: New Delhi, India.

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Abstract

Many studies of state fragmentation and secession emphasize the importance of institutions in these dynamics. Devolved or federal institutions may be intended to placate national sentiments at the regional level, but they often provide a foundation for attempts at secession or independence. Much of the literature on these dynamics emphasizes the material and network resources and infrastructure that sub-state institutions can provide for independence movements. Their discursive and symbolic resources have been less examined. This contribution outlines how the 1997 devolution for Scotland has provided an institutional resource for the Scottish National Movement. However, the institutions of devolution did not only serve as material and infrastructural resource. They also provided a symbolic and ideational context for rhetorical and discursive disputes with the Conservative-Liberal Democrat British government established in Westminster in 2010. The Scottish case is particularly useful to illustrate both the possibilities and limits of these discursive contestations. The Scottish example shows how identities are solidified in the process of contention (Tilly 2008) – thus, whatever the referendum outcome in 2014, Scottish-ness is strengthened by these events.

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