Scottish nationalism

Scottish Nationalism, the concept of Scotland as an individual nation state became prominent within Scotland in the Middle Ages.[5] During the Anglo-Scottish Wars, the campaign led by Scotland[6] was to obtain Scottish independence as a separate sovereign state. The campaign was successful, and following the Declaration of Arbroath, a formal letter sent to Pope John XXII, Scotland, and the nation's individual identity were officially recognised as sovereign in 1328.[7][8][9]

Scotland proceeded to operate as an independent nation state until the Acts of Union[10] which merged both the Parliaments and Kingdoms of Scotland and England in 1707 to be "united into one Kingdom of Great Britain", a united state[11] retaining separate legal system, however a distinct Scottish institution continue to exist.[12]

Scottish Gaelic, also known as the founding language of Scotland[13][14][15] is currently the oldest Scottish language still in use today.

The History of Scottish Gaelic itself has been through a tremendous legacy of turmoil, from Scots nobles learning only English as a first language as far back as the 13th century, the implementation of the Statutes of Iona[16] in 1609 forcing Scots nobles to learn English, or the 1616 Education Act implemented by the Scottish Privy Council which declared that no heir of a Gaelic chief could inherit unless he could write, read and speak English[17]

Around ten such Acts were raised between 1494 and 1698, passed by the Scots Parliament to make English the first language,[18] Gaelic had struggled to retain a foothold over Scotland. As Scotland and Great Britain were united under the Acts of Union 1707, Gaelic lost its legitimacy as a legal and administrative language. Gaelic did however continued to gain importance as the language of the Highland clans, and the language of the Jacobites.

Prior to the Education (Scotland) Act 1872, the Act of Proscription 1746 was implemented to assimilate Highland Scots into Lowland & British culture. Following the Government victory over the Jacobites, Jacobitism as a significant political force diminished, Highland dress was outlawed, banned, and Highland culture & Language deterred, those speaking Gaelic, or wearing highland dress historically received various forms of punishment. On 1 July 1782, royal assent was given to Repeal of the Act Proscribing the Wearing of Highland Dress 22 George III, Chap. 63, 1782 and a proclamation issued in Gaelic and English. Under the Education (Scotland) Act, school attendance was compulsory and only English was taught, or tolerated in the schools of both the Lowlands and the Highlands and Islands. As a result, any student who spoke Scottish Gaelic in the school or on its grounds could expect what Ronald Black calls the, "familiar Scottish experience of being thrashed" for speaking their native language of Gaelic.[19]

Since devolution and the passing of the Gaelic Language (Scotland) Act 2005, Scottish nationalists have spearheaded an effort to bring Scottish Gaelic back from the brink of extinction through the spread of immersion schools funded by the Scottish Parliament.[20]

The lowland Scots Language, previously known as Inglis/Early Scots is a member of the West Germanic languages[21][22] which also has a reported history of being deterred within Scottish Education. Scots speakers today agree that they have received various forms of punishment for speaking Scots. For this reason, the protection and revival of both Scottish Gaelic[4][23] and Lowland Scots play a key role in nationalist ideology.[24][25]

Linguistic independence is primarily associated with the poetry of Robert Burns about the events of the Wars of Scottish Independence, before it experienced a resurgence during the Scottish Renaissance, as led by Hugh MacDiarmid.[26]

Within politics, Scottish nationalism was held as a key ideology by the National Party of Scotland which later became the Scottish National Party (SNP). Their rise in popularity since being elected to government at Holyrood in 2007 led to the 2014 Scottish independence referendum. The referendum was held on Thursday 18 September 2014, and was a victory for the Better Together campaign; who advocated keeping Scotland part of the United Kingdom, with 55% of the Scottish electorate across all 32 council areas voting "No" to independence. However, four of the thirty-two local authority council areas in Scotland did have a majority "Yes" vote in support of independence: Dundee, Glasgow, North Lanarkshire and West Dunbartonshire, which accounted for the wishes of 1,617,989 people who voted in favour of independence across Scotland as a whole.

Despite the nationalist side losing the referendum, the SNP experienced a surge in support in the following months, and won a landslide majority in Scotland at the UK general election the following year; ending 51 years of dominance by Scottish Labour. Many long-serving Labour politicians lost their seats in the biggest political upset in decades, with the SNP winning all but three Scottish House of Commons seats and displacing the Liberal Democrats to become the third party of the United Kingdom; despite only standing for election in Scotland. On Thursday, 23 June 2016, the United Kingdom held a referendum on continuing membership of the European Union, which resulted in 52% of the British electorate voting for the United Kingdom to leave the European Union. A second Scottish independence referendum has been proposed, as 62% of the Scottish electorate voted for the UK to remain in the European Union, and guaranteed prosperity through single market access was part of the Better Together campaign's argument to convince the Scottish people to vote to stay part of the UK.[27]

In 2021, former SNP Leader and First Minister of Scotland Alex Salmond launched the Alba Party and announced it would run in the 2021 Scottish Parliament election, to try and a achieve "supermajority" for Scottish independence.[28] However, the party failed to win any seats in Parliament.[29]

On 15 June 2022, First Minister Nicola Sturgeon declared that she planned to hold a second Scottish independence referendum in October 2023. On 29 March 2023, she was succeeded as First Minister by her former Cabinet Minister, Humza Yousaf.[30]

• Devolution in the United Kingdom
• Unionism in Scotland
• Irish nationalism
• Scottish independence
• Scottish republicanism

• Media related to Scottish nationalism at Wikimedia Commons