Members of the Politics and IR department have been kept busy with debate about Scottish independence. Michael Keating, whose book The Independence of Scotland (Oxford University Press) traces the implications of independence and its alterntives, has done three items of the BBC’s PM programme and interviews in English for Voice of Russia, in Spanish on Radio Nacional and French on Radio Canada (Quebec). The latter two had to be done through his British mobile as he was in Barcelona at the time. He has also done interviews with newspapers in Japan, Germany, Quebec and Norway and a feature item in Avui (Catalonia). There are similar debates going on in Catalonia and Quebec, complete with discussions about the meaning of independence and ‘devlution max’ and during his stay in Barcelona, he is constantly being quizzed about events at home and he has been asked to talk about it in seminars at several universities and research institutes.
Paul Cairney has also featured in the Catalan paper Avui, which is now running regular features about the Scottish debate. He has also appeared in the Times Higher Educational Supplement and Aftenblad of Stavanger as well as making regular appearances in the Press and Journal. Both he and Michael Keating have contributed regularly on the topic to Holyrood magazine.
Lynn Bennie’s co-authored book on the SNP (The SNP. Transition to Power, Oxford University Press) made a timely appearance and featured in a front page article in Scotland on Sunday. It has been cited frequently as a unique source on what SNP members really want.