Scotland After Britain: The Two Souls of Scottish Independence

by Neil Davidson, James Foley, Ben Wray

What is Scottish independence for?

Since the referendum, Scottish independence has been captured by conservative forces. Scotland After Britain argues for fidelity to the true meaning of the word independence. It should mean not only a break from the failing British state, but also from the prison of free trade and militarism that has delivered successive crises. Most of all, independence must honestly address the huge injustices of income, wealth and power that continue to define Scottish society, by restoring agency to working class communities and voters.

Scotland After Britain
Where do we go from here? Scotland After Britain argues Brexit could force the movement to engage in a reckoning with the true stakes of independence, a process that will inevitably require a breach with the SNP’s establishment vision.

Genres: Politics, Nonfiction, History

256 pages, Paperback

First published August 2, 2022

About the author

Neil Davidson lectured in sociology at the University of Glasgow and is the author of six books, including the Deutscher Prize–winning Discovering the Scottish Revolution and, most recently, Nation-States. He wrote some of the most widely read analyses of the previous referendum and Scottish independence for journals including Bella Caledonia, Jacobin, New Left Review, Radical Philosophy and Salvage.

Reviews

[Jago Gibson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic analysis and history of the 2014 independence movement, the usurpation of what was a grassroots working class movement for independence by the SNP has made everyone's job a lot harder
critical of the SNP from a leftist perspective the authors aptly show how at the end of the day they are an establishment party, beholden to capital at the expense of scottish companies and the scottish people, and true democratic independence cannot be achieved with them at the helm, it has to be up to us to rebuild the movement, independence under the snp won't fix the many many inequalities in scottish society

since it was published in 2022, it's clear that the SNPs recent collapse in the election and the revolving doors of first ministers is something even the authors didn't predict to be as bad as it was, would be very interested in a follow up

[Calam · Rating 2 out of 5]

A little bit chaotic and hard to follow at times. Evidently incredibly leftist, but quite often to an unrealistic degree, and sort of bashing everyone and everything with only limited suggestions for improvement.