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Devolution and national identity: the rules of English (dis)engagement
journal contribution
posted on 2014-07-18, 10:06 authored by Susan CondorIn this article I consider why the expected English backlash to the asymmetric UK devolution settlement has not yet materialised. Using a corpus of conversational interviews, I discuss the various ways in which people in England currently understand the relationship between national identity and political entitlement. I conclude that English political quiescence, far from constituting an enigma, is comprehensible in the light of the fact that members of the general public do not usually base their assessments of political legitimacy on calculations of English national self-interest defined in contrast to Scotland. Rather, political issues tend to be judged with reference to principles of equity and procedural justice. English identity is rarely considered legitimate grounds for political voice. Rather, people are inclined to demonstrate a concern to balance the recognition of Scottish rights to national self-determination, with a display of public reason, civility and civic responsibility understood to be normatively incumbent upon the English majority.
History
School
- Social Sciences
Department
- Communication, Media, Social and Policy Studies
Published in
Nations and NationalismVolume
16Issue
3Pages
525 - 543Citation
CONDOR, S., 2010. Devolution and national identity: the rules of English (dis)engagement. Nations and Nationalism, 16 (3), pp. 525 - 543.Publisher
© The authors. Journal compilation © ASEN/Blackwell Publishing LtdVersion
- AM (Accepted Manuscript)
Publication date
2010Notes
This article was published in the journal, Nations and Nationalism [© The authors. Journal compilation © ASEN/Blackwell Publishing Ltd] and the definitive version is available at: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1469-8129.2010.00441.xISSN
1354-5078eISSN
1469-8129Publisher version
Language
- en