On the other hand, Plaid Cymru (PC), the Welsh nationalist party whose purpose is independence of Wales, has been a party to reflect the rise of Welsh nationalism, like Scottish Nationalist Party in Scotland. However, Wales has seen the rise of its nationalism in a different way from the Scottish one. It is obvious that the economics was a factor, but language was another important factor for the nationalism of the Welsh people. Trend of rise of nationalism that occurred in Scotland in the late 1960s also occurred in Wales. PC won their first seat in the House of Commons in 1966, and this victory was followed by another victory in Rhondda West in 1967. At the same time, Westminster passed Welsh Language Act in 1967, which is the most significant …show more content…
In Scotland, there had been great amount of oil discovered in the North Sea, and this fully stirred up the Scots' nationalism. However, PC did not have a decisive fact like that. Therefore, it can be said that the Welsh nationalism was not raised enough to show its effect in the general election, despite their having discontent against the Union or Westminster. The nationalism had not been raised enough as well when the Welsh were asked whether they wanted devolution or not in the referendum that was done at the same time as the one in Scotland in 1979. Devolution was denied with 79.7% of "No" in the turnout of 58.8% …show more content…
The nationalism in Scotland has run high, majority of them wanted devolution in the referendum in 1997, and finally it could have been a case that they would have had independence in 2014. On the other hand, not only economics, but also the Welsh language have been important issues for Wales, in terms of nationalism. Though the rise of their nationalism was not as clear as that of the Scots, it came to a point where they obtained devolution. For the both cases of the rise of nationalism in Scotland and Wales, it has always been democratic deficit that has been the problem in the both countries. That is to say, their opinion as countries has not been fully reflected in the UK's policy, and this has been a reason for the rise of nationalism. In spite of their obtaining devolution, it still keeps being a problem in the entire UK. As long as their independences are not decided, the government is required to deal with this problem, while controlling the people's
Many Scottish people have over the centuries been themselves victim of stereotyping and prejudice by the English neighbours. Discrimination. This is why they are unhappy about it. But to be on the receiving end of something that is historical and for which I have no responsibility for his painful and irksome and makes me feel somehow invisible and unvalued as a person with individuality and a contribution to make to the present moment.
The SNP main goal was Scotland independence and this issue raised in the 1990s. In 1997 elections, the Conservative Party leader John Major rejected the possibility of establishing the Scottish Parliament, however Tony Blair the leader of the Labour Party was with the establishment of the Scottish parliament, which was the reason for winning Blair the majority of
In 2014 however Scotland showed that there was indeed a large amount of voters who believed that Scotland would benefit from exiting the United Kingdom and since then the debate still continues with the SNP pushing for a second referendum.
In the recent referendum that took place 14th September 2014. The people of Scotland were asked, “Should Scotland become an independent country?” They had the choice of ‘yes’ or ‘no’. The outcome was 2,001,926 (55.30%) no and 1,617,989 (44.70%) yes, which meant
Overall it can be seen as a success for parts of England as they were entitled to independence. In a 1997 poll, people in Scotland were asked whether they felt they were Scottish or British. They answered as followed that 63% indicated that they felt that they were Scottish or more Scottish than British. This would fit in with the Marshall model – those who felt that they were Scots would wish for their own Parliament. So it accomplished the wishes of the Scots making it a success for the Scottish population.
Scottish Independence - Good or Bad Scotland is at a turning point. The 300-year old Union is some say no longer fit for purpose. Some say it was never designed for the 21st century world and it is well past it's sell by date and is holding Scotland back. The Scottish people voted to move forward, with a new, more Scottish approach from an SNP government. But many oppose these views saying that Scotland needs the rest of the UK and that the economic and social problems caused by independence would be catastrophic to the relationships between Scotland and the rest of the UK. In any case the government has published a white paper setting out a vision of independence and responsibility in the modern world. But is this idea beneficial to our country?
Although complete sovereignty wasn’t lost over Scotland, the NO vote did cause parliament to devolve some power it held. This is not the first time sovereignty has been lost through Scottish referendums. In 1998 the Scottish parliament was re-established: The Scotland Act established what matters were to be devolved and what matters were to be reserved by Parliament. Devolved matters included health and social care (for example free nursing care for the elderly) and education (for example tuition fees). Reserved matters included defence, foreign policy and the constitution (the UK still controls Scottish independence, as it has the power to over-rule the referendums) Theoretically, Westminster could repeal the Scottish acts. This imbalance of power can cause some policy divergence, for example Scotland passed a law banning smoking in public places before the UK.
The centrepiece of Labour 's programme of constitutional reform was undoubtedly devolution. This was achieved with remarkably few problems. There now seems no likelihood that the new arrangements could be reversed, even by a Conservative administration. The election on 6 May 1999 of a Parliament in Scotland, with extensive powers of primary legislation as well as tax-raising, and an Assembly in Wales, with powers of secondary legislation only, will have a profound impact on governance within the UK. In
Nationalism was coined back in the 1770’s it has a major role in the shaping many nations throughout the world. Nationalism has many positive and negative aspects to it. Nationalism has the strength to unify people despite their classes. It also has the ability to united people to lead movements against oppressive governments. There is a downside Nationalism can as method to evoke fear. The biggest negative is that most nationalism movement’s inevitably led to some form of conflict. Nationalism is a dangerous movement that can lead to oppression of opposition groups and lead to conflicts.
The process of establishing devolution for Scotland began with the Scotland Act 1978, which made way for a referendum on devolution and attempted to gain more power and legislature abilities for Scotland. The rise of the SNP forced the Labour Government of James Callaghan to react. The terms of this Act stated 40% of the entire electorate had to vote “yes” for devolution and the establishment of a Scottish Assembly, this included those who did not vote which were counted as a “no” vote. The 1979 Referendum, on 1st March, saw a majority of 52% in favour of devolution, to 48% against. At first glance it appears Scotland was successful in its referendum, however only 32.9% of the electorate had joined the majority, meaning the 40% required to achieve devolution was not met. With this failure to achieve devolution, the SNP backed a Tory motion of no confidence in the Labour government which saw the 1979 election being called by just one vote. The 1979 election saw the rise of
The Scottish National Party (SNP) was founded In 1934 and In 1960 was found oil in the North Sea, what changed the Scottish public opinion about the Union as the main cause to join it was economical; having oil would suppose economical independence from England.
The origin of Devolution can be traced to Donald Campbell Dewar (21 August 1937 – 11 October 2000). He is generally referred to as the ‘architect of Devolution’ as well as the ‘advocate for Scottish devolution’. And as such, he was elected Scotland’s first First minister in the 1999 election. As
In 1997 Labour pledged a referendum on PR, but it was postponed and it has been argued that two strong political parties, Labour and Torries, would have lost the most if there were any changes in voting systems. If the referendum took place in 1997 elections, Labour majority would have to share, approximately, from 46 seats to 166 MPs with Liberal Democrats. Liberal Democrats gained 16,8% of the total votes, but won less than 10% of the total seats.
In short, nationalism is both good and bad. It seems to block rational behavior and logical thinking to be replaced by radical support for a cause. When it’s functioning well, it allows the citizens of a country to unite with each other and share a common interest. Unfortunately this is hard to govern, and it seems to be directed by government bodies and religion. Radical support can go either way, for or against any topic. Middle ground isn’t something
However, nationalism does not have one single definition, its meaning has evolved as society changes and modernises. Nationalism can “...refer to any behaviour designed to restore, maintain, or advance public images of that national community” (Gries, 2005:9). By the mid-1960s there were two main proposals to understanding nationalism. “In the first, nationalism was an aspect of national history, a sentiment associated with the nation...In the second approach, nationalism was a modern, irrational doctrine which could acquire sufficient power...to generate nationalists sentiments and even nation states” (Gellner, 2008:xx). Nationalism is defined differently by different schools of thought and theorists.