Scottish Rights and ‘Centralisation’ in the Mid‐Nineteenth Century

Bibliographic Data

ID6306909
AuthorsGraeme Morton (0000-0001-8572-7425, University of Edinburgh, corresponding author)
Year1996
Volume2
Issue2
Pages257-279
Publication date1996-07-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueNations and Nationalism (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1345-5078 • E-ISSN: 1469-8129
PublisherWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1111/j.1354-5078.1996.00257.x
OpenAlexW1979625836
LanguageEN
Citations received10
References cited16

This article will address the assumption that the essential definition of nationalism is parliamentary political. By highlighting the solitary Scottish nationalist movement in the mid‐nineteenth century, the National Association for the Vindication of Scottish Rights, this article asks whether a ‘centralised’ state for the Scottish nation should be the model against which nationalism is interpreted. By developing the concept of ‘civil society’ as both ‘container’ and ‘director’ of nationalism, this article will show the influence of a ‘decentralised’ state to conceptions of ‘best‐governing’. By stressing the contradictions in the legitimacy of the British state mid‐century, it will be argued that Scottish nationalism can not be regarded as merely romantic, nor, as its outcome, can Scottish culture be presented as somehow weak. This article will argue that intellectual thought regarding the state meant that the only form of nationalism at this time was ‘Unionist‐nationalism’, more union with England, not less

Centralisation · Home rule · Legitimacy · Nationalism · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Sociology · State (computer science · Irish and British Studies · Law · Political Systems and Governance · Scottish History and National Identity

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