Independence of Scotland:
To Be or Not To Be


	Politics and Society Reference: Kagrimanyan, A.S. Independence of Scotland: To Be or Not To Be // Politics and Society. 2014. № 7. P. 745-752. URL: https://en.nbpublish.com/library_read_article.php?id=54250 Kagrimanyan, A.S. Independence of Scotland: To Be or Not To Be Abstract: The article concerns the issues regarding the referendum on the independence of Scotland which is to be held in September 2014. The author discusses the main stages of the devolution movement in Scotland in order to fi nd out the prerequisites for the events taking place today. Then the author studies the attitudes of the people in the region to the ideas of independence in order to predict the results of the upcoming referendum. In order to predict and understand the upcoming processes in the region the author refers to pluses and minuses of the more radical option for the future events: separation of Scotland from the Great Britain. The article involve theoretical methods (analysis and synthesis), historical method (evaluation of devolution process in a historical retrospective), as well as some practical methods (monitoring and forecasting) – an attempt to forecast the results of the referendum with the help of some quantitative data. Analysis of the possible consequences of separation of the region has shown that independence shall cause both positive and negative effects in political, social and economic life of the Scottish society. Having studied the attitude of the people towards the ideas of independency of the region in the last 35 years the author concludes that Scotland shall remain a part of the Great Britain, while its institutions shall gain even broader competence in the future. Keywords: Independence, referendum, devolution, attitude to independence, pluses of separation of Scotland, minuses of separation of Scotland, political aspects, social and economic aspects, the Scottish National Party, ethnical separatism. This article can be downloaded freely in PDF format for reading. Download article References 1. Eremina N. V. Problema razvitiya regional'nykh innovatsiy: faktor kul'turno-istoricheskogo naslediya v otnosheniyakh «tsentr-periferiya» (na primere natsional'nykh regionov Velikobritanii) // Politika kak faktor innovatsionnogo razvitiya. Materialy mezhdunarodnoy nauchnoy konferentsii / Pod red. A.Yu. Sungurova. SPb., 2010. 2. Eremina N. V. Problema statusa Shotlandii v 90-e gg. XX v. Spb.: Izd-vo S.-Peterb. Un-ta, 2005. 3. Kagrimanyan A. S. Ekonomicheskie faktory periferiynogo separatizma v Evrope // Federalizm. – 2014.-№ 1 (73). 4. Curtis J., Steven M. The 2011 Scottish parliament election. The electoral reform society. London, 2011. 5. Keating M. The Government of Scotland: Public Policy Making After Devolution. Edinburgh, 2010. 6. Kellas J. G. The Scottish political system. New York, 1973. 7. McLean I., Gallagher J., Lodge G. Scotland's Choices: The Referendum and what Happens Afterwards. Edinburgh, 2013. 8. Philips D. Government spending on benefits and state pensions in Scotland: current patterns and future issues. Institute for fiscal studies. London, 2013. 9. Pilkington C. Devolution in Britain today. Manchester, 2002. 10. Smith K. Beyond Evidence Based Policy in Public Health: The Interplay of Ideas. Basingstoke.: Palgrave Macmillan, 2013.

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Kagrimanyan, A.S. Independence of Scotland: To Be or Not To Be