Civic and Economic Nationalism: The Scottish Turn to Immigration

Abstract

Several months before the 2014 independence referendum, Scottish Education Secretary, Mike Russell, described UK immigration policy as ‘driven by UKIP and by a nasty xenophobia which … revolts me’ (BBC News 2014). His comments exemplified a common practice of Scottish political leaders of distinguishing what they argue to be an open and inclusionary ‘Scottish approach’ to immigrants and diversity from increasing restrictionism in the United Kingdom. Much later than their counterparts in Quebec and Flanders, Scottish political leaders have recently begun to grapple with the question of how to respond to growing ethnic, linguistic and religious diversity of the population ‘north of the border’. They have also considered whether, and how, the politics of immigration relates to the politics of multinationalism in the multilevel state. Despite the long history of immigration in the United Kingdom, immigration and ‘visible’ diversity are more recent phenomena in Scotland. Moreover, under devolution Scotland has occupied a relatively weak position in terms of both its general constitutional power and its specific capacity to govern immigration, migrant integration and diversity. These factors, taken alongside the non-linguistic basis of Scottish substate nationalism, make Scotland a distinctive setting in the analysis of how substate political leaders respond to questions of immigration and migrant integration.