The scottish national party: transition to power

Based on an unprecedented survey of the entire membership and over 80 elite interviews The Scottish National Party is the definitive account of the natureof the SNP following its election as a party of government for the first timein its eighty year history. The Scottish National Party is a study of the SNPimmediately after it came to power in May 2007. It is based on a survey of the entire membership and elite interviews with over 80 senior party figures. Discussion is located within the appropriate literatures and comparisons drawn with other British parties. The image of the SNP as a youthful party, with a decentralised social-movement-type organisation is challenged. The party is mucholder and much more male than hadpreviously been thought and appears more like other conventional parties thanits past image suggested. Its increased membership in recent years holds few clues as to how to re-engage youth, as even these recent joiners are predominantly older people, often former members returning to the party. The studyquestions the value of the civic-ethnic dichotomy in understanding nationalism. SNP members, it argues, acknowledge different ways -- civic and ethnic, with the emphasis very much on civic -- of defining who is Scottish. The picture emerges of a coherent left-of-centre party that accepts the pragmatism of its leadership. While independence remains the key motivation for joining and being active, a sizeable minority see the party as a means of furthering Scottishinterests. The idea ofindependence is examined in elite interviews and found, again, to be understood more pragmatically than many commentators have suggested. INDICE: Introduction From Blackmail to Governing Potential From Amateur Activist to Electoral Professional Party Who are the SNP Members? Membership Motivations Activism in the SNP National Identity and Nationalism Independence, Policies and Strategies Conclusion Bibliography Index

• ISBN: 978-0-19-958000-2
• Editorial: Oxford University
• Encuadernacion: Cartoné
• Páginas: 208
• Fecha Publicación: 01/12/2011
• Nº Volúmenes: 1
• Idioma: Inglés