State Devolution and National Identity: Continuity and Change in the Politics of Welshness and Britishness in Wales

Abstract

Wales is one of the principal cases in Europe where the stateless nation enjoys relatively high levels of identification relative to the state, and is a key focus for addressing identity politics in the UK following devolution in 1997–1999. However, the development and political consequences of Welshness and Britishness are currently relatively neglected in the research literature. This article explores these issues in relation to post-devolution Wales. Part one examines survey evidence on national identities, governmental reference to identity in policy development, and public attitudes to constitutional reform. Part two examines the approaches of the political parties, as key agents of identity politics, to Welshness and Britishness in their political strategies. Overall, the paper argues that since 1999 civic Welshness has become predominant in public discourse and support for further devolution has grown. The political parties have all converged on the politics of a civic Welshness in their political strategies. At the same time the underlying extent of identification with Welshness and Britishness since devolution has in fact changed little and the increased assertion of Welshness has not led to a rise in support for independence. Devolution appears to have both enhanced Welsh identity loyalties as a framework for political life and sustained a stable basis for Wales within the UK.