British Prime Minister David Cameron and nationalist Scottish leader Alex Salmond have signed an agreement to give the Scottish people a referendum on independence in 2014.
British Prime Minister David Cameron and nationalist Scottish leader Alex Salmond have signed an agreement to give the Scottish people a referendum on independence in 2014.
The referendum will ask voters whether they want Scotland to remain in the 305-year-old union with England.
Mr Cameron opposes a break-up of the union, arguing that Britain is stronger together.
The latest opinion polls suggest that only between 30% and 40% of Scots support independence.
Scotland and England have shared a monarch since 1603 and have been ruled by one single parliament in London since 1707.
A devolved Scottish parliament was opened following a referendum in 1999.
Nationalists have timed the vote to coincide with the 700th anniversary of the Battle of Bannockburn, when Scottish forces led by Robert the Bruce defeated English invaders.
British Prime Minister David Cameron and nationalist Scottish leader Alex Salmond have signed an agreement to give the Scottish people a referendum on independence in 2014.
The referendum will ask voters whether they want Scotland to remain in the 305-year-old union with England.
Mr Cameron opposes a break-up of the union, arguing that Britain is stronger together.
The latest opinion polls suggest that only between 30% and 40% of Scots support independence.
Scotland and England have shared a monarch since 1603 and have been ruled by one single parliament in London since 1707.
A devolved Scottish parliament was opened following a referendum in 1999.
Nationalists have timed the vote to coincide with the 700th anniversary of the Battle of Bannockburn, when Scottish forces led by Robert the Bruce defeated English invaders.
I find it very interesting that the number is only between 30 and 40 % at the moment. It will be fascinating to see how this develops. So often when we think of nationalism, we think of war, peoples fighting for independence through long and bloody conflicts, of peoples striving for their own country without any doubt of their cause. In this case the people may vote against complete independence, despite a sense of a separate identity (which you wont doubt at a rugby union match), for economic reasons or perhaps due to a more comlicated sense of who they are built up by centruires of union with England. This should provide an interesting case study about nationalism as a phenomenon and factors with counter-balancing effects.
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