The Scottish referendum is scheduled for September 18. Its implications are wide ranging. Most people are convinced that the Scots will ultimately vote ‘no,’ thus preserving their Union with England. But if the unlikely scenario of Scotland going for independence may come true, we could dream of something like a domino effect. Regions like Catalonia in Spain, but ultimately also Veneto in Italy, will be increasingly vocal in arguing for their own sovereignty, instead of staying stuck in “nation states” where their people increasingly feel they don’t belong. The EU–which is after all a cartel of nation states–is going to play with the conservative team–but as the EU is not very popular nowadays, I don’t think this is going to produce a very big impression on Scots.
I shall perhaps stop my secessionist day-dreaming: quite apart from the possibility of reshuffling of sovereignty in Europe, the battle in the Scottish referendum is a political one, and thus is fought on propaganda and little symbols. So the the City AM reports that:
Scotland is getting its own internet domain name, with both independence campaigning groups Yes Scotland and Better Together taking on the new .Scot suffix from today.
Other early adopters of the new domain include the Scottish government, NHS Scotland, and the Commonwealth Games legacy website legacy2014.scot – and more than 50 organisations are already signed up.
The domain will become available to anyone, living in Scotland or elsewhere, in September.
READER COMMENTS
Mark V Anderson
Jul 20 2014 at 8:40pm
It may be that a Scot successionist movement could inspire others, but I think there is a limit to this.
It is almost always economically foolish to secede from the larger entity. If several did successfully secede, I think it would become obvious that those tiny new states have almost always impoverished themselves. It wouldn’t take long for the average citizen to rebel against these actions of a small number of activists that want to run their own country. We then wouldn’t see any more seccessions in democratic countries.
Paul Bogle
Jul 21 2014 at 1:01pm
I see a different set of dominoes set to fall. If the Scots vote to leave the UK the remaining rump will have a more concentrated Tory vote. Should the Tories manage to stay in power in 2015 they have promised an IN or Out vote on the EU. The voters in that referendum will contain a more concentrated out population than would be the case with Scotland in the UK.
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