Ross Bond

National identity and economic development: reiteration, recapture, reinterpretation and repudiation†

Abstract. This article attempts to move beyond assumptions that nationalism is essentially cultural and/or narrowly political, and that it is primarily past-oriented and defensive. We do this by examining evidence relating to the creative (re)construction of the nation from a contemporary economic perspective. Paying particular attention to Scotland and Wales, we show that the mobilisation of national identity within this process of (re)construction is not exclusive to those who seek greater political autonomy. National identity is also mobilised, often in a ‘banal’ fashion, by non-political national institutions such as economic development agencies. We argue that, within the strategies and discourses of economic development, historic national characteristics are reconciled with contemporary needs and aspirations through four processes: reiteration, recapture, reinterpretation and repudiation.

Coming down from the ivory tower? Academics’ civic and economic engagement with the community

This paper examines the degree and nature of universities’ interaction with their communities from the perspectives of individual academics. It considers whether academic values and practice tend toward a ‘detached’ or ‘universalist’ perspective in which location is largely redundant and any perceived ‘community’ has a global character, or whether values and practice in fact indicate a significant perhaps substantial degree of community engagement at a local, regional or national level. We explore interaction with the community which takes a broadly ‘civic’ form, and that which is of more specifically economic relevance. This issue is of great importance at a time when higher education has become a more obvious object of political scrutiny, both in terms of its use of public funds and its more general social and economic purpose. Our findings are based on a postal questionnaire administered to a sample of academics, and a series of follow‐up interviews with a smaller sub‐sample of respondents. We conclude that academics exhibit a strong commitment to engagement and interaction with their communities both in principle and practice; that such interaction often takes place at a variety of geographical levels; and that it is often accomplished under less than propitious circumstances.

An Audible Minority: Migration, Settlement and Identity Among English Graduates in Scotland

This paper is concerned with migration across national borders but within state boundaries; specifically, movement between England and Scotland. It focuses on an under-researched area—the medium-term migration behaviour and motivations of graduates—within a demographic and political context where there is a premium on the attraction of highly qualified migrants. It examines the potential influence of national identities upon migration and long-term settlement among this group. The status of ‘English’ graduate migrants as an ‘audible minority’ in Scotland is highlighted. Identification and affinity with Scotland are widespread, and can be developed through a number of routes, thus indicating a positive potential for turning ‘migrants’ into ‘settlers’ in order to meet demographic and political objectives. However, there are also significant barriers to belonging which relate to the national identities of migrants. This shows that incongruity between formal citizenship and belonging may be a significant feature not only for those who migrate between states, but also for migrants who cross national borders within the same state, and this in turn may influence their future migration decisions.

Higher education and critical citizenship: a survey of academics' views in Scotland and England

Abstract The views of academics in England and Scotland on developing critical citizenship among their students were investigated using a combination of survey data and interviews. Academics in Scotland and England had different views about the role of critical citizenship. In Scotland, the most civic interpretation of these capacities tended to be held by those who were most distanced from a British identity. These views in Scotland were held also by academics who had come from outside the United Kingdom, in contrast to academics of similar origin in England. In England, those who would encourage a civic commitment among their students saw this as coming about through the kinds of careers on which they would embark, rather than through their role as citizens. Despite this contrast, none of the interviewees in Scotland chose to link their civic views to the new Scottish parliament or to any project of renewing Scottish democracy.

National Identities and Attitudes to Constitutional Change in Post-Devolution UK: A Four Territories Comparison

This paper analyses survey data drawn from two distinct time points (2003 and 2006/07) to examine whether national identities in the UK are associated with support for further constitutional change. It compares all four ‘national’ territories of the UK: England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. We use logistic regression to model the relationships between identities and constitutional attitudes, taking into consideration other relevant social and political variables. While in England there is little evidence that national identities are constitutionally significant, in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, national identities remain significant in explaining support for constitutional change, even after we have controlled for the effects of other variables. However, this significance needs to be qualified by considering trends in national identification in these territories and the likelihood that these will contribute to demands for further constitutional change.

Political Attitudes and National Identities in Scotland and England

These are the opening sentences of Ernest Gellner’s Nations and Nationalism, one of the most famous books on the subject, by one of its leading scholars. Gellner’s words highlight the fact that any study of nationalism and national identities must consider their political significance, and it is the purpose of this chapter so to do. But in this chapter, and indeed this book, we are concerned with nationalist sentiment of a different kind, that which can more usefully be termed national identity. This relates to a more subjective sense of belonging or attachment to a particular nation, one which the individual assumes is shared with other co-nationals. The chapter will assess the degree to which such sentiments are indeed related to political attitudes.

Multicultural nationalism? National identities among minority groups in Scotland’s census

ABSTRACT This paper uses data from a new question in the 2011 UK censuses of population to investigate national identities among ethnic and religious minorities. It focuses primarily on Scotland, while presenting comparative data for England and Wales. A robust comparison of national identities between different minorities in Scotland and with similar groups in other nations of Britain has previously not been possible because ethnic and religious minority groups represent a small proportion of Scotland’s population and are weakly represented in sample surveys. The new census question on national identity therefore offers an unprecedented opportunity for this kind of analysis. The analysis is used to critically evaluate previous claims of the existence of multicultural nationalism in Scotland and previous research that has suggested that Scottish identity is relatively inclusive of people in minority groups. The findings suggest that while Scottish national identity is relatively inclusive of minorities in some respects, the conclusions of previous research should be treated with some caution.

National Identities and the 2014 Independence Referendum in Scotland

This paper discusses the 2014 independence referendum in relation to national identities in Scotland. This is done firstly through reflecting on the referendum franchise and then by examining how peoples subjective national identities aligned with key political attitudes relevant to the constitutional question. Using survey data, this analysis compares longer term trends with data from the period immediately preceding the referendum vote, and suggests that the campaign may have given rise to a much closer ‘alignment’ between national identities and political attitudes. The concluding discussion suggests that national identities in Scotland may be understood as a series of only partially overlapping and shifting constituencies, based on subjective national belonging, residence, political enfranchisement, political-constitutional attitudes, and peoples understanding of and sense of affinity with a (British) social union, and that this concept of ‘social union’ would benefit from further sociological investigation.

The Nations of Britain

The reforms which altered the legislative structure of the United Kingdom in the closing years of the twentieth century have been paralleled by a growth in academic inquiry concerning the social and political conditions which are both cause and consequence of this important constitutional change. Christopher Bryant’s commendably ambitious and comprehensive book represents a valuable addition to this broader scholarly trend. Its value resides principally in two relatively novel features. First, it examines the whole (Britain) as well as its most significant parts (the eponymous “nations”). What the author calls the “five-nations possibility”—the notion that Britain itself may be considered a nation, as well as its constituent national territories— offers an interesting contrast to approaches which either elide the national diversity that exists within Britain or seek to negate the significance of Britain as a national entity in its own right. Second, the multitude and complexity of the questions which the book sets out to answer (concerning Britain’s historical origins, its current status as a “post-imperial country” and its potential future as a multicultural and quasi-federal national state) invite a multi-disciplinary approach. While the book may not quite live up to its stated promises in this regard, it certainly combines historical, political, and sociological evidence to good effect. It should therefore appeal to students and scholars across a wide range of disciplines, as well as representing a valuable starting point for initiates in the complexities of politics and society in Britain. Bryant’s inquiry also builds on issues which have preoccupied those who have contributed to the (relatively) recent growth of nationalism studies, not least within the field of sociological inquiry. What exactly constitutes a nation, and how are such entities constructed and imagined? In this regard, the book represents a useful introduction to the key ideas which have emerged from the study of nations and nationalisms, as well as applying these ideas to a specific territorial context. For a book of such ambition and eclecticism, it is perhaps inevitable that the reader may be at times disorientated as well as enlivened. Bryant attempts to establish a firmer purchase on what he recognizes to be a potentially unwieldy subject matter by proceeding on the basis that the nations under his purview are constructed through the interaction of temporal and geographical orientations. In this respect, the prognosis for the “nation” of Britain itself offered in the early part of the book is not promising. Temporally, the key foundations of its sense of being lie mostly in the past rather than the present, and have been diminished by time if indeed they have not disappeared completely. Geographically, Bryant highlights a number of demographic, economic and political differences that exist between the nations of Britain, although whether these differences may contain the seeds of Britain’s future dissolution is doubtful. Nevertheless, there is convincing evidence to suggest that Britain needs to be “reforged” if it is to endure. To create a clearer picture of the form such an exercise might take, and thus of Britain’s potential future(s), Bryant proposes that it is necessary to examine each of its constituent nations (Scotland, Wales, and England), and this is done through the application of his typology by which conceptions of the nation can be understood in terms of the relationship between orientations to time and place. While this undoubtedly lends necessary structure to such a broad area of discussion, one feels that the process of categorization is not always successful and illuminating. There are signs of strain in the need to create “ideal types” to fill the boxes, and thus some categories are more extensively and convincingly elaborated than are others. In addition, it is not clear whether the descriptions of those categories representing orientation towards the past are not just straightforward historical accounts (comprehensive and well-researched though they appear to be) rather than representing “contemporary” constructions of the nation, as Bryant’s typology