The Scottish National Party

Abstract

Increasing electoral support in recent years for the Scottish National Party (SNP) had created a major challenge, not only to the main UK parties operating in Scotland, but also to the legitimacy of the United Kingdom. Why, in an advanced industrial society, apparently with a long established and legitimated system of government, a nationalist party should emerge to threaten the established political order is a problem still awaiting a comprehensive answer. Whatever the reason, one thing is clear: the SNP has been able to mobilise the nationalist aspirations and discontents of the Scottish electorate to a remarkable degree, through a party structure and ideology which has proved able to attract more new political activists and to campaign more effectively than any other major party in Scotland in recent times.