Politics and nationalism in Scotland: a Clydeside case study of identity construction

Abstract

Abstract This article examines constructions of Scottish national identity and nationalist identity politics on Clydeside, focusing on the constituency of Paisley South. Seen as a ‘transition zone’ in Scotland’s political geography, I focus on the place-specific constructions of Scottish identity and one of its political expressions, nationalism, in the period between the September 1997 devolution referendum and the May 1999 Scottish Parliamentary elections. Using contemporary archival sources, statistical survey research and qualitative interviews, this article explores the construction of Scottish national identity in the area along three inter-related dimensions: class, nationality and culture, drawing on Paasi’s framework of region-construction to examine the role geography plays in this process, and the political effects and tensions created. I use work by Tom Nairn and Anthony Smith to argue that Scottish nationalism on Clydeside illustrates the problems of the simple ethnic-civic theorization of nation-construction and discourses that rely on a post-national understanding of identity politics. Instead, I suggest that we need to conceptualize Scottish nationalism in a different way: as a neo-nationalist movement that is having to adapt to locally-specific conditions and broader trends to construct Scotland as a geographically-coherent entity in the post-devolution era.