The Scottish National Party and the Prospect of Independence: The Case Study of 2014 Referendum

Abstract

This dissertation investigates and scrutinizes the historical and contemporary profile of the Scottish National Party being an influential and trendy party that shaped the local politics of Scotland. The present work also focuses on “Scottish Nationalism” which constitutes the driving force behind the party’s struggle for full independence and sovereignty. This dissertation takes the 2014 Scottish independence referendum as a case study to illustrate the previously mentioned items. Indeed the 2014 referendum represented an unprecedented event in Scotland since the SNP’s principle of “independence” was for the first time put in direct evaluation and estimation. In this ballot the majority of the Scottish people voted for the “union” at the expanse of “independence.” In this respect, this research project seeks to understand the main reasons behind the failure of the referendum especially that the SNP usually takes the majority seats in the Scottish Parliament and forms the local government. This paradox is exposed in this dissertation with at least two main suppositions as an attempt to understand the failure of the referendum and to envision the future of the SNP and therefore of nationalism in Scotland.