National identity and nationalism

As stated from the outset, this dissertation is taking a wide, cultural view of identity rather than concentrating merely on the political. Anthony Smith observes the difference between nationalism and national identity,

It is necessary to distinguish the ideological movement of nationalism from the wider phenomenon of national identity, we cannot begin to understand the power and appeal of nationalism as a political force without grounding our analysis in a wider perspective whose focus is national identity treated as a collective phenomenon. 4

It is this ‘collective cultural phenomenon' of national identity that I am primarily concerned with, although I shall return to the question of nationalism below, and again in section three. Smith identifies five defining features of national identity: a homeland, common myths and history, a public culture, common legal rights, and a common economy; and then extends this definition to stipulate what constitutes an actual nation 5. It is easy to define Scotland as a ‘nation' as such, as she fulfils most of these criteria, particularly in view of the fact that Scotland had preserved most religious, cultural and legal institutions 6. Many other theorists also emphasise the importance of myth and history in the forming of a ‘nation' 7. Hobsbawm and Ranger 8 speak of the ‘invention of tradition' in order to maintain national unity, and this view is summed up by Sam Ashman of Socialist Worker,

Nations, we are constantly told, are both ancient and natural creations. In fact they are both relatively modern and constructed. It took a process of invention to build up the ‘national identities' we are familiar with today. 9

Invented or not, it is a fact of contemporary global society that national identity does exist, at least within the minds of many people. Indeed, the whole concept of ‘identity' is very much a subjective issue, dependent on individual self-perception 10. It is this self-perception that enables identities to become conflicting, not only between different groups of people, but also within individuals.

Having defined ‘national identity', how then does it differ from ‘nationalism'? Smith sees nationalism as the political expression of national identity,

nationalism is primarily a cultural doctrine or, more accurately, a political ideology with a cultural doctrine at its centre. 11

This suggests that nationalism is actually a political mechanism through which a particular national identity is manifested. It is generally agreed by theorists that nationalism is a relatively recent phenomenon, Kedourie believes it to be ‘a product of European thought in the last 150 years' 12, whilst Goodwin suggests

It seems that the demise of the monarchical principle in Europe paved the way for nationalism based on linguistic identity. 13

This notion of linguistic identity as an important factor of nationalism is central to Ernest Gellner's theory of nationalism, but it is important to state that this does not apply to Scotland, even by Gellner's own admission,

Scottish nationalism indisputably exists. (It may indeed be held to contradict my model). It ignores language (which would condemn some Scots to Irish nationalism, and the rest to English nationalism), invoking instead a shared historical experience. 14

Another unusual aspect of Scottish nationalism is its ‘belatedness', ‘Between 1800 and 1870... there simply was no Scottish nationalist movement of the usual sort.' 15 Although more fundamentalist nationalists may challenge this 16, it is undeniable that Scottish nationalism was peculiarly absent during the major period of European nationalism. This may be partly due to the fact that in the eighteenth century, a time when most European nations were experiencing an upsurge in nationalist thought, and many nations were being formed from individual kingdoms 17, Scotland had just seceded her independence by entering into political union with England (1707). This led to Scotland's change from a ‘nation-state' to a ‘stateless nation', yet she retained many solely Scottish state institutions, including the Church of Scotland, the banks, the legal system and the education system. This dissertation, however, will not be overly concerned with the historical events of Scotland, rather, it will concentrate on the present, although a basic understanding of Scottish history is advantageous to understanding the present state of Scottish identity 18.