Recently, significant debates have risen over the issue regarding the independence of Scotland from the United Kingdom. These debates have seen over four million voters within the state supporting the idea that would resultantly imply an end to a political union between Scotland and England for over 305 years. These supporters are driven by the notion that the economy of Scotland as well as other sectors such as the social policies, innovation just to mention but a few, would flourish if the state had more autonomy. However, a greater portion of the population believes that the idea is a wrong move. Their believes are based on the notion that Scotland enjoy some form of security through the agreement with the United Kingdom. They have however urged the Scottish parliament to ensure more financial and legal dominance from the agreement.
This paper will focus on analyzing the causes of rising popular demand for independence in Scotland as a democracy that has been involved in the agreement. The analysis will focus on the recent debates being discussed concerning the end of the agreement as well as the effects. Additionally, the paper will bring out reasons as to why Scotland has failed to develop an overarching national identity that fosters a strong sense of belongingness among the Scots. This will be followed closely by the generation of a hypothesis for the potential breakup of other democracies such as Canada, Belgium and Spain.
Overview
Historically, the union between Scotland and England occurred in the year 1707 as a result of political collaboration. However, the union was also partly driven by financial crisis that occurred due to failure of the colony in areas such as Panama, popularly known as Darien adventure. This saw the entire political mandate moved to London while Scotland retained its legal structures (Preston, 119). However, in the 1800s Scotland managed to strengthen their economy that eventually drove the state to secure a leading role in the British Empire. Consequently, issues emerged regarding giving Scotland some aspect of ruling in their home country within the United Kingdom. Several attempts to have this done failed and a Scottish parliament was established in 1999 with policies and legal powers that were dependent on the direct grant from London (Preston, 119).
Recently, in 2011 the nationalists’ party brought control of the Scottish parliament thus facilitating a platform where the first minister demanded an independence referendum. These issues have largely contributed to the rise in popular demand for independence in Scotland where the parliament has initiated studies over running the referendum. This has characterized the extension of voters to 16 and 17 year old citizens. Additionally, ever since Salmond was voted into parliament, he has published two bills regarding franchising and running the referendum. The referendum was driven by issues such as the UK government giving the Scottish parliament the authority to set its income taxes as well the development of stamp duties among other issues (McCarty, 203).
However, there were more supporters of the issue of independence who believed that it would give Scotland full mandate over all taxation processes, laws as well as North Sea oil. These claims were coupled with the fact that lack of independence would have compelled Scotland into financial, lack of security from the United Kingdom and fewer gains from devolution. Additionally, there were some who believed that lack of granting Scotland independence from England would drive the state to reliance on foreign aid and place them in more competition with its neighbors (McCarty, 208). Controversies that intensified the popular demand for independence included claims that the UK was already successful economically as wellm as in terms of political unions. Therefore, making Scotland independent would make the state have more responsibility for their taxes and expenditure through policies that would ensure more accountability (McCarty, 208).
Over the years, Scotland has failed to develop an overarching national identity that fosters a strong sense of belongingness among the citizens due to various reasons. These reasons are majorly based on the economic effects likely to occur as a result of making such significant changes (Louis, 119). One of these reasons includes the confusion of currency that would occur if Scotland would decide to become independent. Studies have indicated that recent research shows that the independent currency would bring about challenges through putting away investors and reducing trade with other states across the world (Louis, 119).
In the year 1999, the SNP leader, Alex Salmond, devalued the pound and attempted to change it in 2009. This brought about huge impacts on the economy of Scotland as people were not sure which currency to use. It also served as a hindrance to the development of an overarching national identity as the currency meant to be never used became established as the state still went back to the pound. However, these activities have led to the European Union to rule out Scotland from the euro for many years (Louis, 119).
The second reason entails delusions regarding the oil in the North Sea that have been the backbone economy in Scotland. However, there have been differences in the way oil is perceived within the region as revenues acquired differ from those from other states. Additionally, Scotland has failed to develop a national identity due to financial mismanagement as the banks within the state have become problematic (Fraser, 223). The activities are undertaken to make Scotland independent have characterized pull out of many lenders thus making taxpayers abandoning them. The other reason entails loss of credibility as it is driven by the notion that by becoming independent it would endure more benefits than what it gets from the agreement it holds with the United Kingdom. However, this notion has failed to guarantee its citizens the ability to sustain its operations on its own. This has developed some form of laxity and fear towards the development of a national identity (Fraser, 223).
Arguably, Scotland has failed to develop a national identity that would foster a strong sense of belongingness among its citizens due to lack of natural resources. This is based on the fact that Scotland relies on oil as the backbone of its economy. However, there is uncertainty of the future of the state if the oil runs out and the sources of income for the country to sustain its wealthy future. The establishment of an independent state would deprive Scotland the opportunity of attracting major industries in the field of manufacturing, finance and infrastructure. In addition, the development of an independent state with national identity would drive the country into separating from its mother source of income (Fraser, 223). It would seem like a regression for the state and deny them the opportunities likely to occur.
Other states such as Canada, Belgium and Spain with the potential of breaking up from the United Kingdom should learn a big lesson from Scotland before making significant decisions. In order to develop potential structures of breaking up from the United Kingdom, these states need to ensure that they have an ample supply of resources that would sustain their economy, as well as their citizens. They should also ensure that there are proper structures in place to facilitate the development of a national identity that entails their currency (Spiers et al., 154). However, they should be keen on maintaining close ties with the mother Empire in order to continue enjoy benefits brought about by the relations set. Overall control should be secured within these states in terms of taxation, interest rates as well as political policies. There should also be unity and harmony in the voice of the people in term of what they want for their state that implies that the parliament within these states should ensure
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