Union and Unionisms: Political Thought in Scotland, 1500-2000

by Colin Kidd

Overview

Although the dominant political ideology in Scotland between 1707 and the present, unionism has suffered serious neglect. One of the most distinguished Scottish historians of our time looks afresh at this central theme in Britain's history, politics and law, and traces the history of Scottish unionist ideas from the early sixteenth century to the present day. Colin Kidd demonstrates that unionism had impeccably indigenous origins long predating the Union of 1707, and that it emerged in reaction to the English vision of Britain as an empire. Far from being the antithesis of nationalism, modern Scottish unionism has largely occupied a middle ground between the extremes of assimilation to England or separation from it. At a time when the future of the Scottish union is under scrutiny as never before, its history demands Colin Kidd's lucid and cogent examination, which will doubtless generate major debate, both within Scotland and beyond.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780521706803
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
Publication date:	12/04/2008
Pages:	322
Product dimensions:	5.40(w) x 8.40(h) x 0.70(d)

About the Author

Colin Kidd is Professor of Modern History at the University of Glasgow, and Fellow of All Souls College, Oxford.

Table of Contents

Preface; 1. Introduction: the problems of unionism and banal unionism; 2. Unionisms before union, 1500-1707; 3. Analytic unionism and the issue of sovereignty; 4. Narratives of belonging: the history and ethnology of organic union; 5. From assimilationist jurisprudence to legal nationalism; 6. The two kingdoms and the ecclesiology of union; 7. Early nationalism as a form of unionism; 8. Conclusion.

Editorial Reviews

As Mr. Kidd reveals in his subtle and scholarly book, unionism and nationalism are not opposites. For most of modern times, they have been contented bedmates….[The] virtue of this book is that it provides a new way of viewing 500 years of Scottish history, debunking many misconceptions and at the same time rescuing the apparently arid subject of unionism from an undeserved quondamnation (the coinage is Mr. Kidd’s). And now that Scotland has its own parliament, run by Nationalists who seek to scrap the union, the topic is of some moment.”
The Economist

"Written with Kidd's customary elegance, precision, and wit, Union and Unionisms is an enormous pleasure to read, and it offers many important and persuasive contentions, not least for students of the long eighteenth century."
18th Century Scotland, Emma Macleod, University of Stirling

From the Publisher