The Separatist Strategies Of The Scottish National Party And Plaid Cymru In The Context Of Devolution:A Comparative Study

Devolution was one of the major constitutional reforms introduced by the UK government at the end of the twentieth century.By the end of 2019,it has already been two decades since UK-wide devolution was officially set in motion in 1999.Since one of the key targets of devolution is to contain separatism,it is reasonable to evaluate the effects of devolution by looking at the development of separatism within the UK.Unlike England and Northern Ireland,the devolution arrangements in Scotland and Wales are highly similar in that they take the form of ethnic autonomy by combining autonomous power with ethnic identity.Scotland and Wales not only enjoy significant autonomy but also have their ethnic identity strengthened through institutional arrangements.Some scholars argue that emphasis on ethnicity by ethnic autonomy will create a favourable environment for the separatists to capitalise on ethnic issues to mobilise the people and gain support.It is obvious that such arguments are based upon the assumption that the strategies of separatists intrinsically involve ethnic nationalism.As two main branches of nationalism theories,the differences between ethnic and civic nationalism are clear.In short,the former holds that the nation should be determined by objectively given"ethnicity",which is ascribed by blood and expresses itself through characteristics such as language,customs and culture,while the latter denies that ethnicity is the only criterion for national membership but instead emphasises the binding force of individual will for a national community.According to some Western scholars,the former is usually regarded as irrational,narrow and extremist while the latter rational,open and tolerant.For separatists,the primary issue they have to face is to define a national community.As separatism often involves certain ethnic groups,ethnic nationalism was not rare for separatist movements in history.Its huge power can never be ignored.However,in today's Western world,more and more separatist movements are turning to civic nationalism.The prevalence of liberalism,the demand from electoral politics,and the development of globalisation and regionalisation all make it less likely for separatists in these Western countries to pursue their goal of "independence" by capitalising on the issue of ethnicity,even under ethnic autonomy.Although they never give up their emphases on their ethnic characteristics,they officially claim that they are followers of civic nationalism,defining their concept of "nation" through territory-based civic community rather than ethnic identity.This change of separatist strategies is not accidental but is determined by the social and political environment which these separatists have to faceThe research focus of this dissertation is the main separatist parties in Scotland and Wales,i.e.the Scottish National Party(SNP)and Plaid Cymru.There is no doubt that devolution has strengthened the ethnic identity of these two areas and has created political arenas which focus on the local affairs,making the circumstances favourable for the rise of ethnic nationalism.However,as the leading forces of the Scottish and Welsh separatist movements,the SNP and Plaid Cymru rarely define the "nation" with the excluding factor ethnicity,but both choose to follow civic nationalism by which they construct the "nation"on the basis of the civic community of the whole area.Accordingly,their justification for separatist goals largely lies in the economic and social issues which concern the whole population of both areas.But it should be noted that although both parties do follow civic nationalism and portray themselves as defenders of collective interests,the results of their development are quite different.This suggests that apart from "nation" construction,other factors also play their part in fostering separatism and it is inaccurate to understand separatism only through the lens of differences among ethnic identitiesThe main research methods of this dissertation are historical analysis and case comparison.Primary-source materials such as official publications,Acts of Parliament and data from opinion polls are used.The innovations of this dissertation are in three aspects Firstly,the perspectives of ethnic and civic nationalism in nationalism theories are introduced into the study of UK devolution and separatism,to complement the political and legal perspectives in previous researches,contemplating the relationship between separatism and the objective or given ethnic identity as well as the civic community based on individual will and right,from the angle of separatist parties.It enriches existing theories of nationalism by conducting empirical research into the case of the UK where ethnic issues are to some extent peculiar.Secondly,it takes note of the latest developments of the SNP and Plaid Cymru especially after the 2016 EU membership referendum,discussing the impacts of Brexit on Scottish and Welsh separatism and the future of the multi-ethnic British state.By doing so it aims to make more accurate analyses and judgements.Finally,by looking at the fact that the SNP and Plaid Cymru prefer civic nationalism to ethnic nationalism when pursuing their separatist goals,it points out that this change is used as a tool and analyses the strategic consideration behind it.It then discusses the future impacts of this new trend on separatist movements in a broad sense.