Thesis (M.A.)--Central Connecticut State University, 2000. / Thesis advisor: Louise Williams. " ... in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts [in History]." Includes bibliographical references (leaves 98-104).

The creation of devolved institutions in Scotland and Wales in 1999 provided nationalist parties in both the opportunity to act within an institution solely within their nation’s territorial boundaries. In 2007, they entered government for the first time. In so doing, the Scottish National Party and Plaid Cymru embarked upon public engagement strategies in office which were designed to build support for their constitutional ambitions – namely, independence for Scotland and (in the short-term) full legislative powers for the National Assembly for Wales, as outlined in the Government of Wales Act 2006. This thesis explores the public engagement strategy of both parties, focusing on the respective consultations of the parties in government – A National Conversation and the All Wales Convention¬ – and the following campaign for (in Scotland) and at (in Wales) a referendum intended to deliver their preferred outcome. The aim of this thesis is to consider why public engagement strategies were considered the best vehicle to take forward the respective parties’ constitutional goals and to evaluate the success each party achieved in relation to these objectives. This thesis argues that, while both the SNP and Plaid Cymru have achieved some success with regard to their constitutional objectives, this success can be measured differently depending whether short-term or long-term goals are the defining standard. In Wales, Plaid Cymru’s constitutional consultation found limited engagement with the wider Welsh population, and though the referendum succeeded in securing legislative powers for the National Assembly for Wales, public engagement with the constitutional debate in Wales continues to lack enthusiasm. By contrast, the SNP’s National Conversation saw more enthusiastic engagement, but without a referendum at the end of the process, a clear lack of a tangible short-term outcome. However, the SNP in government did succeed in moving the constitutional debate firmly onto the political agenda, and engagement in this debate is now widespread in Scottish society, particularly in the wake of an agreement to hold an independence referendum in autumn 2014.

This thesis examines the growth of commercial lobbying in Scotland with the devolution of political power to Edinburgh in 1999. The study analyses the nascent public affairs community in Edinburgh in the lead up to, and during, the first session of the Scottish Parliament. This period covers the public debate at Holyrood over the registration and regulation of outside interests, and examines both the public and private political communication of those actors involved. The evidence base for this thesis is drawn from archival and documentary research, extended observational fieldwork in Edinburgh, and in depth interviews with informants from lobbying consultancies, corporations, voluntary sector organisations, elected representatives and public servants. A key focus of this study is the role of commercial and corporate lobbyists in Scottish public affairs and the Scottish public sphere. The analysis concludes that the Scottish Parliament's founding principles of openness, equality and accountability could be served through the regulation of lobbying.

The UK, traditionally one of the more fiscally centralised of OECD countries, is currently in the midst of an extensive programme of tax decentralisation. This is most evident in Scotland. Ten years ago the Scottish Government was almost wholly reliant on a block grant from the UK Government to fund its spending, and debate was focussed on how the determination of this grant should be reformed. Today the Scottish Government has far greater fiscal autonomy. Income tax was almost fully devolved to the Scottish Parliament in April 2017, and around half of VAT revenues will be assigned to Scotland by 2020. As a result, the devolved Scottish budget will in future be linked much more closely to Scotland’s economy, and Scottish politicians will be able to deviate from UK policy on the setting of income tax and various smaller taxes. The objective of this PhD is to examine the economic and political motivations for and implications of greater fiscal decentralisation, with a particular focus on the Scottish case. Its key over-arching questions include: • Which fiscal powers are more and less suitable for decentralisation, and what might constraints might a devolved government face in exercising devolved tax powers? • To what extent are the objectives of fiscal decentralisation compatible with the goal of inter-regional equity in public good provision? • To what extent is fiscal decentralisation likely to enhance the incentives faced by politicians in a devolved parliament to pursue particular types of policy? And to what extent does the answer to this question depend upon the way in which supporting fiscal institutions, notably including the design of block grant arrangements, influence this? • What factors determine regional economic performance, and to what extent can devolved governments be held accountable for (or face the budgetary consequences of) those trends? • To what extent might fiscal decentralisation assuage or accentuate demands for Scottish independence? This PhD consists of four academic papers covering aspects of regional economics and constitutional change in the UK, with a particular focus on Scotland. Each of the four papers is preceded by an abstract. An introductory chapter provides theoretical and policy context within which the four papers are situated. A concluding section to the PhD is provided in Chapter 6. The four papers cover the following topics: • Paper 1 (Chapter 2) was published in the immediate aftermath of the Scottish independence referendum of 2014, and considers the issues and constraints involved in devolving further fiscal powers to the Scottish Parliament. • Paper 2 (Chapter 3) considers the scope for replacing the Barnett Formula (used to allocate funding to the Scottish Government) with a form of spending-needs assessment, based on a comparative analysis of formulae used within England and Scotland to allocate health funding to territorial health boards. • Paper 3 (Chapter 4) examines how regional labour markets in the UK responded to the 2008/9 recession and its aftermath, and considers which factors may have influenced regional resilience to the recession. • Paper 4 (Chapter 5) examines the factors that determine differential growth in regional income tax revenues, and considers the extent to which it is reasonable to hold devolved governments wholly to account for differential economic performance. • Chapter 6 concludes.