How to Start a New Country: A Practical Guide for Scotland

by Craig Dalzell (Editor)

The purpose of this work is to explore the practical steps that Scotland would have to take if it wanted to become an independent country. The book’s starting point is the day after the referendum at which a majority of Scotland have voted for independence and it ends three years later with Independence Day.

Based predominantly on Common Weal’s 18 month long White Paper Project, the book explores how Scotland would build its new systems and infrastructure, how it would pay for it all and how much it would cost.

Paperback

First published February 28, 2018

About the author

Craig Dalzell is the Head of Policy and Research at the think-and-do-tank, Common Weal.

Reviews

[John Fullerton · Rating 2 out of 5]

Worthy but dull, and unless you are very committed to the issue of Scottish independence, a cure for insomnia. The first four pages could easily have been reduced to one, and the long paragraphs and sentences could invariably have been cut without loss of meaning but with a considerable gain for forward momentum and narrative which this solemn volume lacks. A good sub-editor and rewriter would have been very helpful. There's to be sure a great deal of useful material on what needs to be done - urgently - to prepare Scotland, especially in terms of infrastructure and senior recruitment. One must hope that those involved have the stamina to read this. It's weak on defence and intelligence and a long, rather pedestrian and detailed discussion of money seems to miss (or evade) the point entirely: who will create Scottish money? No, I don't mean notes and coins. I mean will Scotland go the way of the neoliberal world and allow commercial banks to do so through the perpetual accumulation of debt as is currently the case, or will Scotland bite the bullet and establish the central bank as the only source of new money? That's a very, very big gap. In fact, the author or authors try to steer clear of politics, an impossible task, because setting up the state is itself an act of immense political significance, but no thought is given to the history of statehood (hierarchical, authoritarian patriarchies dependent on forced labour creating surpluses for the non-productive elites) from the very beginnings in Mesopotomia. Perhaps the author or authors need to be reminded that the walls built around the earliest states were built as much as to keep tax-paying peasantry chained to the drudgery of the plough in as to keep raiders out. There's a nod or two in the direction of participatory democracy, but it's hesitant, shy of making bold statements. A pity. And there's some confusion over terminology. The author or authors talk about forging a new nation, a new country. Scotland has been a country and the Scots have been a nation since time immemorial, regardless of what Holyrood and Westminster get up to. This is about creating a state - and it doesn't get any more political than that.