Scotland on the Eve of the Independence Referendum
On September 18th, Scottish voters will decide whether their country will be the first to secede from a Western-European state in recent history. After two years of campaigning it would seem that politicians, academics, and journalists would have a good understanding of the public sentiment. Using very recent data from the only large-scale, representative, and comprehensive attitudes surveys in Scotland, however, this talk will highlight where the general “wisdom” about Scots’ attitudes towards the referendum may be empirically wrong. The talk will also identify issues that may still move people, in either direction, before casting their vote.
Event Sponsor
Scotland on the Eve of the Independence Referendum
On September 18th, Scottish voters will decide whether their country will be the first to secede from a Western-European state in recent history. After two years of campaigning it would seem that politicians, academics, and journalists would have a good understanding of the public sentiment. Using very recent data from the only large-scale, representative, and comprehensive attitudes surveys in Scotland, however, this talk will highlight where the general “wisdom” about Scots’ attitudes towards the referendum may be empirically wrong. After showing where the polls stand and what we may expect as polling day approaches, this talk will focus in particular on how the attitudes of Scottish people towards international affairs have often been misrepresented, in particular in relation to the European Union, Scotland’s role in the world, and nuclear weapons in Scotland. The talk will also identify issues that may still move people, in either direction, before casting their vote.
Dr. Jan Eichhorn is a Chancellor’s Fellow in Social Policy at the University of Edinburgh’s School of Social and Political Science. He is the principal investigator on two Economic and Social Research Council funded projects in the “Future of the UK and Scotland” programme, investigating the attitudes of Scots in relation to the referendum on independence.
Speakers
Jan Eichhorn
Samuel Wells
Former Deputy and Associate Director, Woodrow Wilson Center; Former Director, West European Studies Program, Woodrow Wilson Center
Hosted By
Global Europe Program
The Global Europe Program addresses vital issues affecting the European continent, U.S.-European relations, and Europe’s ties with the rest of the world. It does this through scholars-in-residence, seminars, policy study groups, media commentary, international conferences and publications. Activities cover a wide range of topics, from the role of NATO, the European Union and the OSCE to European energy security, trade disputes, challenges to democracy, and counter-terrorism. The program investigates European approaches to policy issues of importance to the United States, including globalization, digital transformation, climate, migration, global governance, and relations with Russia and Eurasia, China and the Indo-Pacific, the Middle East and Africa. Read more
