About the Scottish Independence Referendum

Résumé ou Introduction

Term Paper about the scottish independence referendum

"We are bought and sold for English gold. Such a parcel of rogues in a nation." - Scotland's famous bard Robert Burns. It is said that personal financial interests, triggered through the failure of the Darien Scheme, a colonization project by the Kingdom of Scotland, and bribery led to the Acts of Union between the Parliaments of Scotland and England on 1 May 1707. The two Parliaments united and formed the Parliament of Great Britain. Since then, many individuals and organizations have advocated the return of a Scottish Parliament. Moreover, some have argued for devolution - a Scottish Parliament within the United Kingdom - whereas others have demanded complete independence. While the first referendum on a stronger devolution in 1979 failed, the second one in 1997 has been a success, leading to the Scotland Act of 1998 being passed and the Scottish Parliament being established in 1999. After its formation in 1934, the Scottish National Party won its first election in 2007 and, again, in 2011, delivering the first majority government since the opening of Holyrood - the law making body of Edinburgh. With the overall majority, and the Scottish Parliament combined, the case for Scottish Independence strongly reoccurs these days. Alex Salmond, the leader of the Scottish National Party and current First Minister of Scotland, is one of the main proponents of Scottish Independence, now intending to hold a referendum on this issue in the autumn of 2014. There are several points speaking in favor of independence but equal as many against it. Before weighing the pros and the cons of the issue, I will start off with a narrow description of the voting system and the questions concerning the referendum bill in general.