Scotland after the referendum.  Analysis of the results and of the consequences

The article focused on the roots of independence aspirations in Scotland and analyzed referendum in Scotland marked 18. September 2014; also described devolution carried out in 1998; analyzed not only the results of the referendum (by age and region of Scotland), but also the reactions of the UK and the rest of the world; described the referendums in the world after the World War II as well as plans for the future of Scotland.

The specificity of a regional state on the example of devolved regions in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland

The issue of autonomous countries, for example through Scotland, is an interesting topic in the field of political research. The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is an absorbing field for the deeper research. The analysis of the institutional and legal solutions adopted in the United Kingdom allows for the formulation of a research hypothesis that classifies Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland as autonomous countries, as a result of the competences obtained as part of the devolution process. In the article, the author also responds to the research questions posed which features may indicate the position of the devolved regions as autonomous countries, and which do not allow them to be included in this category?

Od roku 2011 Szkocka Partia Narodowa prowadzi działania zmierzające do wystąpienia Szkocji ze Zjednoczonego Królestwa. Artykuł przedstawia koncepcje SNP i kolejnych rządów szkockich w dziedzinie polityki obronnej, odpowiadając na pytania, jaką rolę kwestie obronności odgrywają w ich planach oraz, czy realizacja tych planów umożliwi Szkocji zbudowanie sił zbrojnych dostosowanych do długofalowej polityki zagranicznej tego państwa, zmieniającej się sytuacji międzynarodowej oraz nowych zagrożeń.

In the 2014 referendum Scottish voters were asked whether Scotland should be an independent country. Several years and one Brexit referendum later Nicola Sturgeon, the then popular and charismatic leader of the Scottish National Party and First Minister of Scotland, was making a convincing case for another independence referendum. She even proposed October 2023 as its date. But the United Kingdom government and successive Conservative prime ministers have consistently said “no”. This article analyses that constitutional and political ‘tug-of-war’ in the context of devolution settlement, pro-independence aspirations of Scottish people, consequences of Brexit, and growing tensions between Edinburgh and London. The most fundamental constitutional question within that frame of reference is what Scotland’s viable path to independence should be and in other words, under what circumstances the independence vision could be implemented.