Scottish Flag
Since the dawn of time, the rivalry between the Scottish and the English exists, and these last few years it has especially worsen with the Scottish Referendum and with the rise of nationalism.
In fact, we have to remember that the United Kingdom is the result of the union of Scotland and England in 1707, so United Kingdom was formed not a long time ago, only 310 years ago. Indeed, they are the same country, but they have their own identity and culture ; they have different religions (catholicism in Scotland and protestantism in England) and laws. Furthermore, they are educated in a different way. Of course, the influence of England was and is still stronger in the society and economy of the UK than Scotland’s.
Indeed, this impression of cultural inferiority felt by the Scottish regarding the superiority of English exists : it is called “Scottish cringe” and it creates some tensions between the two populations. There is a striking fact that demonstrates it ; in 1745 England attacked the symbol of Scotland by banning the tartan and the bagpipe, after a Scottish rebellion.
Centuries after centuries English provocations fed the rivalry between the two nations, and the decline of the Scottish identity lead the Scottish to consider the idea of Independence, and by the way the rise of nationalism. According to Tom Devine, one of the biggest Scottish historian, " From 1750 till 1980, the relation was stable. Today, the bases which made this stability disappeared or widely fainted ", it means that an Anglo Scottish union is no longer necessary.
Moreover, the differences between the two identities, the desire of independence and the increase of nationalism lead to some important events. First, in 1934 the creation of the SNP (Scottish National Party), then in 1997 the Scottish devolution referendum, in which SNP had an important role and it marked the first gap between the two nations. In fact the devolution plan was approved by 74.3% of the people who voted (44.87% of the electorate) and so the Scottish Parliament called ‘Holyrood‘ was set up. Also there was the same devolution referendum in 1978 but it failed because only 32.9% of the electorate voted (it required 40%). This fact proves that in less than twenty years there was a rise of nationalism in Scotland and that more people were concerned about their country.
United Kingdom approved the holding of a referendum on Scottish independence on September 18th, 2014. The referendum was not just a ‘victory’ against England, but it was also the achievement of the growth of nationalism. Moreover we can think that it used immigration to exploit resentment against new identities and cultures. Therefore, we can see that the independence referendum had some sort of controversy between Scottish values and English values. Finally, the referendum was a failure, 55,4 % were against and voted “NO”.
To conclude we can say that the more nationalist Scottish people are, the more they want power and independence, and Scottish nationalism is constantly increasing. It shows us a form of uncertainty avoidance, because they want to protect their culture and identity which they fought for many years. Finally, as French, we are not so different from Scottish, we have a common enemy: England!
Scottish Independence Referendum
To conclude we can say that the more nationalist Scottish people are, the more they want power and independence, and Scottish nationalism is constantly increasing. It shows us a form of uncertainty avoidance, because they want to protect their culture and identity which they fought for many years. Finally, as French, we are not so different from Scottish, we have a common enemy: England!
Here are some articles to go further about this blog entry :
http://www.huffingtonpost.fr/2014/09/18/independance-ecosse-rivalite-anglais-ecossais_n_5836654.html
Hichem Ouattar, EPD 12 (group2)
Thanks Hichem for your fantastic post! It's a difficult subject to discuss maybe because the society is divided in two parts and this division goes back centuries as you said. I think people should always remain united despite their differences as much as possible in political terms.
ReplyDeleteAna de los Reyes Álvarez EPD12/Group3