Abstract
The electoral success of the Scottish National Party (SNP) in recent years owes much to its rhetoric. Whatever its ideological origins, the SNP currently espouses an ill-defined form of social democracy, and is thus properly understood as a party of the centre-left. The ideological repositioning of Labour after 1994 created a political opportunity for the SNP, which reinforced its nationalist appeal by claiming to be the only significant Scottish party capable of articulating the country’s traditional, ‘progressive’ outlook. Leaders like Alex Salmond and Nicola Sturgeon have possessed ethos in abundance and, as a party of government after 2007, the SNP has established its logos. In short, by 2011 the party enjoyed something akin to rhetorical ‘hegemony’ in Scottish politics to match its remarkable electoral performances.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
BBC News. (2015). Sturgeon: Corbyn must prove Labour can win UK elections. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-34233823.
Brown, G. (2014). Better Together Speech. http://www.cityam.com/1411051570/gordon-browns-better-together-speech-eve-scottish-independence-referendum-vote-full-video.
Campbell, J. (2005). Where do we stand? Common mechanisms in organizations and social, movement research. In G. Davis, D. McAdam, W. Scott et al. (Eds.), Social movements and organization theory. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Curtice, J., & Ormston, R. (2011, December 5). Is Scotland more left-wing than England? British Social Attitudes 28 Briefing No. 42.
Davis, G., McAdam, D., Scott, W., & Zald, M. (2005). Social movements and organization theory. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Gaber, I. (2000). Government by spin: An analysis of the process. Media, Culture and Society, 22(4), 507–518.
Hassan, G. (Ed.). (2009). The modern SNP: From protest to power. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.
Hepburn, E. (Ed.). (2010). New challenges for stateless nationalist and regionalist parties. London: Routledge.
Keating, M. (2001). Nations against the state: The new politics of nationalism in Quebec, Catalonia and Scotland. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.
Kirchheimer, O. (1966). The transformation of Western European Party systems. In J. LaPalombara & M. Weiner (Eds.), Political parties and political development (pp. 177–200). Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
Lloyd, J. (2012, March 9). Tartanry and tyranny. Financial Times.
McAdam, D. (1996). Conceptual origins, current problems, future directions. In D. McAdam, J. McCarthy, & M. Zald (Eds.), Comparative perspectives on social movements: Political opportunities, mobilizing structures and cultural framings. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
McGarvey, N., & Cairney, P. (2008). Scottish politics: An introduction. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.
Mitchell, J. (2009). Devolution in the UK. Manchester: Manchester University Press.
Mitchell, J., Bennie, L., & Johns, R. (2011). The Scottish National Party: Transition to power. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Mycock, A. (2012). SNP, identity and citizenship: Re-imagining state and nation. National Identities, 14, 53–69.
Office for National Statistics. (2016). Income and wealth. https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/personalandhouseholdfinances/incomeandwealth.
Salmond, A. (2012). Hugo Young Lecture. https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2012/jan/25/alex-salmond-hugo-young-lecture.
Scottish National Party. (1989). Scotland’s future—Independence in Europe. Edinburgh: SNP.
Scottish National Party. (1992). Independence in Europe—Make it happen now! Edinburgh: SNP.
Scottish National Party. (1997). Yes we can! Win the best for Scotland. Edinburgh: SNP.
Scottish National Party. (1999). Scotland’s Party: Manifesto for Scotland’s parliament. Edinburgh: SNP.
Scottish National Party. (2016a). I’m #SNPbecause. http://www.snp.org/about_nicola_sturgeon_snpbecause.
Scottish National Party. (2016b). Our vision: Fairness, a fairer Scotland. http://www.snp.org/fairness.
Scottish National Party. (2016c). Re-elect Nicola Sturgeon: Manifesto 2016. http://www.snp.org/manifesto.
Scottish National Party. (2016d). Constitution of the Scottish National Party. http://104.46.54.198/sites/default/files/assets/documents/constitutionofthescottishnationalparty.pdf.
Snow, D., Rochford, E., Worden, S., & Benford, R. (1986). Frame alignment processes, micromobilization and movement participation. American Sociological Review, 51 , 464–481.
Sturgeon, N. (2015). Speech to 2015 SNP Conference. http://www.snp.org/_snp15_nicola_sturgeons_conference.
Sturgeon, N. (2016). Statement after EU referendum. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-36620375.
Torrance, D. (2015). Salmond: Against the odds (3rd ed.). Edinburgh: Birlinn Books.
Acknowledgements
The authors are deeply grateful to David Torrance for reading a draft of this chapter and offering very constructive advice. Any remaining errors of fact or interpretation are our own.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2017 The Author(s)
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Garnett, M., Steven, M. (2017). Rhetoric and the Rise of the Scottish National Party. In: Atkins, J., Gaffney, J. (eds) Voices of the UK Left. Rhetoric, Politics and Society. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-51902-9_9
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-51902-9_9
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-51901-2
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-51902-9
eBook Packages: Political Science and International StudiesPolitical Science and International Studies (R0)