Scotland’s independence
Scotland is changing the “norms” by trying to get more leisure to their policies to eventually get more freedom in their state, and, if possible, become totally independent. The question to ask now is, what is England's response to this movement. Will they follow in somewhat of the same tracks, or take another path. I think that England will not follow in the same tracks as Scotland, but I do think that sometime in the near future, Scotland can become independent. On September 19th, scotland had polled a 55%­45% vote, (which is not its first time trying to gain independence) keeping its connection and staying with the United Kingdom.
In this, scotland wants to have the freedom to be able to create and or change its policies. The main two theories that will be addressed throughout this paper are; structuralism and culturalism.
Scotland for many decades has been trying to gain its independence. February 1989 was arguably Scotland's biggest starting point for independence. There was a big outrage on if scotland was an independent country, would it be better off. While the optimistic bunch had thought that it would, it ended up losing a poll, 24% to 76%. In a Scottish poll on television, when the people were asked whether or not they wanted to stay with Europe or break away, the majority of them wanted to stay connected to Europe. But, when the poll asked the same people if they wanted to have an Independent Scotland country within Europe, the majority of people also voted towards this. The percentages were swayed in three different directions in this time period. 34% of voters wanted more direct representation as well as breaking apart from England; these were the nationalists. 28% of people wanted Europe to somewhat emblematize Scotland and keep the relations with England instead of disbursing; these were the unionists. Lastly, the

remaining 26% wanted a portion of everything (Macartney 35). Both meaning that they wanted to keep all possible relations with England, and on top of that give them absolute representation throughout Europe instead of the other options; these were the Euro­nats. People were swayed because of the fact that mainly the biggest support groups were the ones supporting non­independence and to stay as much with England as physically possible.
This topic connects very well with both culturalism and structuralism. First structuralism, connects with this point because Scotland gave their citizens the privilege to vote (once again because it has failed in the past) to vote for Scottish independence. In the past people voted to keep ties with England, but Scotland continues to strive for departure. This brought up the part of structuralism where the people are voting just because they are following the ways of the
“game”. From the first time Scotland has tried to sway for independence, the votes for it have increased, but not enough to take full action upon it. When in my view, if they really wanted fully independence, then the people will speak out about it when the time comes. The second theory that connects to this issue is culturalism. Culturalism plays a role in this issue because
Scotland wants to gain full self­sufficiency so that it can change some of the norms within the country, but also keep the cultural norms in without any interference with England norms. But it also wants to keep some ties with England.
The possible pros and cons if Scotland were to gain independence (The Week UK). First off, if scotland were to gain independence, it would, for a short period of time, keep it under the queen's rule. Queen Elizabeth II, who also rules Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. But, being that Scotland has mostly nationalists whom are republican, it would eventually vote for the end of the queen's reign in their state. This would result in an actual more forward statement on how

serious Scotland truly is. That they will dethrone their leader who has led them for decades, to begin a whole new aspect to Scotland. If this happened, the queen would have to call upon a governor­general to take order for the time being. Having this happen will eventually require the people to appoint representatives who make policy decisions on behalf of the queen, which could make quite a few changes in Scotland's overall system, rules, and laws. A con would be that with
Scotland gaining independence, it also is basically breaking apart from England as a whole. And it would make it so that Scottish people would lose their British citizenship. The only ones who would keep their citizenship would be the very few people who happen to be certified as a “dual citizen.” A topic that was a big controversy was, if Scotland split, would it continue to use the pound, or switch to the Euro. If the split did happen, Scotland would not switch to the Euro, it would in fact stay with the pound. Mainly because of the fact that Scotland would be denied from joining a formal currency union. The UK alone has an estimated one trillion dollars in national debt. A con of this debt would be that if Scotland happened to split, it would essentially have to inherit a portion of this massive debt. Scotland would then have a defence problem. On top of its debt that it would have to inherit, it would force Scotland to have a fairly small expense for military usage. Which means minimal personnel and also minimal warships and other mechanical forces.
Culturalism connects best with this topic because these pros and cons are more geared toward individual actions that would be taking place. For example, the debt that Scotland would inherit could easily be pushed more towards individuals by simply raising higher taxes on common things to help the government obtain more money to pay off the debt. The defense system is more of a whole objective rather than an individual, but it can also be viewed as having

a defense system to help protect each individual from outside harm. Culturalism helped in a sense by driving people to not want Scotland's independence because of a social/cultural norm that would be changed. This being the British citizenship that most Scots would lose.
Will Scotland ever gain its full independence and break away from England? A big reason as to why Scotland has failed multiple times to gain its independence is the lack of people knowing about the actual issue. Since the 1920’s, the secession of southern Ireland, Scotland trying to gain independence is arguably one of the most extensive things to happen since then in the British constitution (Dardanelli, 320). That is the part that a lot of people do not see, which is why it lacks input and votes from the outside public. Scotlands first strike for independence came about in 1979 (which failed), came about again in 1997 (also had failed) and now once again in
2014 and it has also failed. In 1997, before the actual voting, it was very much perceived that the votes would be in favor for independence right up until voting where it quickly took a complete turn around. What really made people unsure as to if they wanted an independent Scotland or not was when the Scotland parliament and the scotland act wanted to have a labor domination placed. With this up in the air, the
Scotland's Parliament White paper of 1997 came along
(Dardanelli, 321). Bringing a decent amount of political and social changes. All of them being against the labor devolution. This paper included things like more childcare would be offered, guaranteed paced income, and rising of minimum wage to assure help with the everyday cost of living. This paper swayed people to vote against Scotland’s independence because it had better public benefits that the public knew immensely about.
Structuralism connects better with this topic than culturalism because this is more about political and social goals rather than cultural or social norms. This is so because the white paper

act helps organize a sense of control throughout the human community by helping people pay for living by causing wages to go up, more childcare for those who constantly are working for their families and may not have the time to care for their child as they would like. And also the guaranteed paced income that helps. All this can give people more freedom and essentially give them the opportunity to create more social goals.
The referendum of 2014 in September for Scottish independence had lost, which caused the rumor of it not being re­established until the next generation (The Week UK). Shortly after,
Scotland obtained its first support on independence. This newspaper called
The National is mainly brought up by a group whom is on the side of Scottish independence, which will be a first for the Scottish daily (The Guardian) This will be a 32 page newspaper going for around 50 pounds (roughly $78 in U.S. currency). This newspaper helps give awareness to the general public about the things that can happen with independence in Scotland in the future. Although it was a bit late with the most recent referendum, it can greatly help sway the people of scotland and possibly people of the outside to vote for their independence. This newspaper also helps create a more balanced media, rather than the one­sided media beforehand.
With this topic, Structuralism plays a part in a sense that it puts a more social and political output out for the public. Which makes the issue more noticeable which can have a great affect on the next referendum of independence. This action to put out this newspaper is the result of free individuals whom are advancing, but to possibly change the social structures/institutions in the future.
Throughout these decades of fighting for independence, everyone involved in it has been very mature and liberal about the situation. Everyone has been, for the most part,

staying under the radar to the point where no military force has to be used, and even better no military forces is wanted to be used with this situation. Vice­President of the Scottish National
Party stated, “No other path than a constitutional one ought to be taken” (Maccormick, 721). In
Maccormick’s article, he describes that the things that are not solely democratic and constitutional are disadvantages to the electoral field and are publicized by the media. His article also states that even though Scotland is trying to break away and become independent, their relation with England is very strong and is very highly valued, and that relationship is not to be dropped by “whatever new constitutional relationships develop between the two countries”
(Maccormick, 721). This relates to culturalism because it is a lot about Scotland trying to break away, while trying and wanting to keep good connections with England.
Scotland is fairly torn between whether or not if it wants to become independent. But in the meantime, it is gaining just a little more power here and there, led by small steps. A big step was the most recent poll. Another step towards a potentially different outcome is the new newspaper siding with the side of independence. Within time, this issue will eventually get the publicity that it needs, giving it a more greater chance that more people vote and also know what they are essentially voting for. Though it voted to stay with the U.K. it had obtained a decent amount of freedom when it comes to creating their own and changing policies. Although some may think that because Scotland is trying to break away from England they do not particularly like each other's norms and values, it is actually the opposite. And that they value each other a lot more than the public actually notices. Overall this whole topic on Scottish independence closely relates to culturalism because of the fact that it is trying to create their own institutions for individuals to uphold their own traditions of culture and values.

Works Cited
1.
"The West Lothian Question."
The Economist
. N.p., 29 Sept. 2014. Web. 09 Dec. 2014. 2.EUROPE, INDEPENDENCE IN. "The first of these is the sens_e of nationality. As
Moreno points out