Regional resistance to European integration : the case of the Scottish National Party, 1961-1972

Abstract

Regionaler Widerstand gegen die Europaische Integration: Der Fall der 'Scottish National Party', 1961-1972«. This article examines the evo- lution of Scottish National Party (SNP) attitudes, policy, and rhetoric toward European integration between 1961 and 1972. Initially lukewarm, even posi- tive, toward the proposed British membership in the European Economic Community (EEC), the party became increasingly hostile to EEC membership and adopted an aggressive anti-EEC position. By the early 1970s, the SNP was the leading anti-EEC political actor in Scotland, and it was the SNP's efforts that helped turn an ignored British foreign policy issue into a Scottish domestic political issue that had wider implications for Scotland's relationship with the United Kingdom and Europe, as well as for the ongoing Europeanization of Scottish politics and society.