This thesis is a comparative analysis of nationalism in Quebec, Scotland, and Catalunya and the perspectives of nationalist parties towards questions of constitutional change within the broader Canadian, United Kingdom, and Spanish states. It is the goal of this thesis to analyse how minority national groups view themselves within the constitutional framework of multinational states and what arguments they make for greater recognition for their national communities. All of the nationalist parties under discussion argue that the distinct position of the minority national group is not sufficiently recognised within the state. How this recognition can be achieved is of primary concern to nationalists and shapes their approach towards constitutional dialogue. Nationalist parties adopt various approaches towards constitutional reform in an effort to achieve either a reform of the existing state or the secession of the minority national group's territory from the state. This thesis analyses these approaches as advocated by the parties themselves and by other political and academic participant-observers. In examining the Catalan, Quebecois, and Scottish cases this thesis compares the unique asymmetrical arrangements that each state has adopted as a means to accommodate the minority national groups. Many nationalists argue that this evolving asymmetry is insufficient to meet the goal of greater recognition, leading to their advocating various federal, con federal, and secessionist options. After considering the various constitutional options that are presented this thesis argues that promoting a higher degree of constitutional and administrative asymmetry is an effective means of bringing greater recognition to Scotland, Quebec, and Catalunya within the state. The qualitative analysis in this thesis is based upon original research and a review of available secondary source material. The original research consists largely of data obtained from personal interviews and from an analysis of party documents. The personal interviews were conducted in Scotland, Quebec, and Catalunya with political participant-observers, including members of nationalist parties and individuals involved in developing constitutional policy and with academic participant-observers who specialise in constitutional politics. The thesis is divided into four sections. The first section includes the introduction that outlines the research method and Chapter 1 that examines various theoretical approaches to nationalism. The second section lays the groundwork for the following two sections. It consists of chapters two to four, which examine the historical evolution of nationalism in Quebec, Catalunya, and Scotland from its antecedents to the late twentieth century, paying particular attention to the evolution of nationalist political thought. The third section consisting of chapters five to seven is the main analytical section. In each of these chapters the constitutional framework of each state and the nationalist response are analysed through an examination of constitutional documents and party manifestos, leaders' speeches, and other policy material. Data obtained from interviews is analysed here. The fourth and final section is made up of the conclusion and a comparative analytical chapter that draws the three cases together through an analysis of various constitutional options in the three multinational states.

This thesis presents a specific case study of the developing relationship between religious pluralism and national identity in Scotland by focusing on a particular high-profile group - Interfaith Scotland (IFS) - the country's national interfaith body, which has received little scholarly attention. This thesis argues that IFS represents religious pluralism as interrelated with contemporary Scottish national identity through its organisation and its literature: representing Scotland as one nation of many faiths. This discourse of unity in diversity presents a structured and limited religious pluralism based on the world religions paradigm (WRP), and is compatible with a civic-cultural form of nationalism. The WRP involves a model of religion which focuses on broad global traditions such as Christianity, Hinduism and Islam, over specific local communities and distinct denominations. These global traditions are defined by coherent, intellectual and ethical dimensions represented as closely equivalent. This paradigm is evident from the governing structures within IFS itself which represents individual religious bodies according to the world tradition into which they can be classified and affords a secondary, non-governing status to those who are not recognised as part of one of these traditions. Their world religions approach is also evident from representations of 'religions' in their literature, which emphasise broader intellectual and ethical traditions even in relation to communities outside the major traditions they recognise and the 'Non-religious' Humanist movement. This demonstrates their reliance on these categories in depicting Scotland and its population. The chapters of this thesis will explore how IFS depicts the Scottish nation and its population through the category of 'religion': the Christian majority, religious minority groups and the Non-religious. It also examines how IFS draws on civic and cultural resources to construct a common Scottish national identity compatible with their structured and limited pluralism. This civic-cultural nationalism is often banal or implicit, reinforcing the conception of interfaith relations taking place within a Scottish national framework through innocuous references to Scotland as a bounded society and the use of common cultural symbols of Scottishness to represent the 'unity' encasing that religious diversity. This can be classified as a form of nationalism because it represents the overarching secular national political framework of Scotland as supremely authoritative, as the legitimate basis for the political representation of the population rather than any specific religious identities. IFS' nationalism was especially evident during the lead up to the 2014 referendum on Scottish independence during which they consistently affirmed the right of the Scottish population to national self-determination without endorsing either position. The key themes of IFS' expressions of nationalism and the world religions paradigm are related. The conception of religions as of global importance as intellectual and ethical traditions rather than specific political movements at the local level means that religious identifications do not conflict with the territorially limited authority of the nation. Through these discourses 'religious' and 'national' identities are represented as compatible and non-competitive. This thesis relates to the wider comparative study of the changing relationship between religion, secularism and nationalism in the contemporary world. It makes a contribution to the critical social scientific study of interfaith groups and the role they play in governance, processes of national integration, the reinforcement of national identity in civil society, and the construction of religious identities. It provides evidence that the relationship between nationalism and religion is not always either wholly separated or related to religious exclusivism as with certain forms of religious-nationalism, but that religious pluralism can also be related to forms of nationalism despite assumptions of their incompatibility.

Sub-state nationalist parties mobilised and saw an increase in electoral support in the 1960s and 1970s. A heterogeneous group of parties, they are united by their claims upon the state in favour of self-government. However, sub-state nationalist parties advance a variety of goals, ranging from more moderate forms of recognition and cultural or political autonomy, to more radical restructuring of the state along federal lines, to even more radical demands for political independence. The language, content, and arguments in favour of these goals varies - both between parties and within individual parties - over time. As a result, we know less than we should about self-government goals themselves. This research asks two core questions. Firstly, what do sub-state nationalist parties want? And more importantly, operating from the assumption that sub-state nationalist parties are strategic actors, how do their goals reflect strategic considerations, understanding of the contexts in which they are expressed, and their historical positions? By comparing three cases, a third question can be explored, assessing the ways in which variation in the empirical contexts in which these goals are articulated may manifest in variation in the framing of self-government goals. In this research, I argue the self-government goal presented by a given sub-state nationalist party can be considered a reflection of the 'art of the possible', a pragmatic articulation of what might be achieved under a system of constraints rather than the single-minded pursuit of self-government, regardless of its costs and consequences. In order to fully capture the complexity of self-government goals and the contexts in which they are expressed, three case studies, in two territorial contexts, are studied in depth. The first is the Scottish National Party, which seeks political independence for Scotland. The other two are parties which emerged in Flanders, the Volksunie, which existed between 1954 and 2001, and its successor, the Nieuw-Vlaamse Alliantie. These cases represent some of the most successful sub-state nationalist parties, both in electoral terms, particularly in recent years, and arguably in making progress towards their self-government goals.

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The growth of sub-state nationalism in the 1960's provoked considerable academic speculation. The case of Scotland was a prominent focus of interest. One neglected area however, was the systematic study of S.N.P. strategy on two issues--North Sea oil and devolution--it is argued that small producers face particular problems in establishing themselves in the marketplace. From the standpoint of 'rational choice' theory, the party was unable to maintain a rational orientation to the electorate even under the most favourable circumstances. The constraints on rational behaviour ultimately isolated the party from the mass of the electorate, and it experienced what amounted to a 'reverse process' of maturation from relative rationality to relative irrationality. This growth cycle suggests that there are particularly severe problems afflicting the leaderships of such parties which need further study.

This project examines questions of national identity and democracy in television through the analysis of the production processes of audience discussion programmes. The study of television debates, as public spaces through which members of particular communities discuss topics of common concern, shed some light on two different questions. On the one hand, this project explores whether the (re)construction of national and cultural identity intervenes in the process of programme-making within stateless nations. On the other hand, audience discussion programmes are examined to assess whether they can function as democratic spheres of social representation in the media. These two strands of research are developed through ethnographic insights into two television debates: Scottish Women - produced by the commercial company Scottish Television (STV), and La Vida en un Xip - transmitted through the. Catalan public television channel TV3 and produced by the production company DCo.S.A. A comparative study of these two programmes and their respective broadcasting contexts is provided. Also, the distinctive political status of Scotland and Catalonia within their respective states - Britain and Spain - and the European and international contexts, is examined in relation to the media. The current debates concerning nationalism, the nation and national identity are discussed on the basis of culture as the essential element of the nation-building process. This study explores the process of cultural identity fonnation in Scotland and Catalonia and the role of their respective media structures as potential actors in the (re)construction of collective identities. Thus, the analysis of television production is regarded as a key instrument with which to assessh ow this medium intervenesi n such processes. Audience discussion programmes are examined as television formats with the potential for providing a democratic public sphere in the media. An expansion of the concept of the public sphere, its transformation and its role in contemporary societies is, therefore, essential to develop this argument. Also, the relation between television debates and the community is explored through a survey carried out amongst participants of Scottish Women and La Vida en un Xip. This work provides media studies with some keys to evaluate the role of television debates in the delicate political make-up of two nations without a state, Scotland and Catalonia. Questions of national and cultural identity are crucial to the policy-making of their respective broadcasting, industries. Yet, such questions are difficult to distinguish and define in their programming. The comparative analysis of the two case studies reveals that every person involved in television making reflects to a certain extent his/her own perceptions of the country, and therefore, television debates mirror the ambiguities that may lie behind them. This study provides some clues to reformulate the concept of the 'public sphere' on the basis of a 'dissection' of television production procedures. The findings also reveal the economic, political and social criteria that develop audience discussion programmes into spheres of entertainment rather than rational communicative environments in which a public sphere could function. The concepts of national identity and the public sphere are framed in the context of contemporary societies, in which post-modem values are eroding the role and interest of the individual in the political process.

This thesis makes two broad claims. It contends firstly that there is considerable variation in national consciousness across the population of a stateless nation. People can and do feel minutely, partly or wholely Breton, Scottish or Quebecois. Moreover, these are not merely differences of degree. Underlying the uneven intensity of nationalist sentiment within stateless nations is qualitative variation in the buttresses of national consciousness. Some - typically those with weaker national identities - are "pragmatist nationalists": people whose sense of belonging to a distinct community is firmly grounded in tangible sociological differences, be they ethnic, linguistic, religious or political. Others, more taken with the nation, are "idealist nationalists"; their sense of national belonging is more the product of an abstract and idealized sense of connectedness than hard and concrete sociological difference. This basic difference in the underpinnings of national identity, along with other attendant contrasts between pragmatist and idealist nationalists, are explored through historical analysis of various nationalist organizations and activists in Brittany, Scotland and Quebec. The second central proposition is that this qualitative variation in national identity is an important determinant of political behavior. Many of the wide-ranging attitudes and behaviors seen among exponents of the nationalist cause can be traced back to the conditioning effects of national identity on the outlook and political disposition of different nationalist players. In making this case, the analysis proceeds thematically, drawing examples variously from the three cases; it offers, in places, quantitative evidence based on analysis of the original data from previously conducted surveys. Various attitudinal and behavioral phenomena are thus explored: perceptions of the legitimacy of different means of effecting changes in the nation's political status (e.g. violence versus democratic means); the rationality of different nationalist players; their patterns of participation in nationalist projects; and overall mobilization trends. While these phenomena are somewhat disparate, they are linked by an overarching theme: idealist nationalists are less sensitive to empirical realities than their pragmatist counterparts. They are consequently more intransigent and uncompromising in their attitudes and behavior, and for this reason often play an important vanguard role in the process of nationalist mobilization.

This thesis seeks to relate the forms of liberal nationalism, which emerged in Scotland and Quebec between 1899 and 1914, to the character of the institutions which governed. The substantive focus is on two liberal nationalist groupings: the Young Scots' Society and the more loosely grouped Ligue nationaliste canadienne. Their emergence is examined at three levels: imperial, federal and local civil society. / The British Empire exerted an overarching influence on both Scotland and Quebec. Yet each enjoyed a very different relationship to the empire. Liberal nationalists responded differently to the same policies---the South African War, Tariff Reform and the Naval Question. The Young Scots invoked Liberal principles: freedom of speech, free trade and disarmament. The Nationalistes' response was nationalist: these were encroachments on Canadian sovereignty. Yet both groupings shared a liberal conception of empire, characterised by autonomy and decentralisation. / Scotland and Quebec enjoyed a 'federal' relationship to their states (Britain/Canada). Deficiencies in these systems prompted different responses. The Young Scots campaigned in support of a Scottish Home Rule Parliament. The Nationalistes favoured a Canadian federation which was avowedly consociational, one which recognised Canadian duality. These were liberal measures of accommodating difference. / Finally, Scotland and Quebec possessed distinctive civil societies. Yet they differed in the degree to which they were governed by liberal norms. In Scotland a liberal ethos was sustained by both the dominant Liberalism and Presbyterianism. However in Quebec the dominant Catholic church sought to preserve its hegemony over francophone society against Liberal challenges. Liberal nationalists not only reflected the distinct national character of their civil societies but also the degree to which those societies were governed by liberal norms. / It was these configurations of institutions and norms which ensured that the nationalisms which emerged in Scotland and Quebec were liberal in character. Yet there were important differences: greater emphasis was placed on Liberalism in Scotland ("Liberal nationalists") while the emphasis was on Nationalism in Quebec ("liberal Nationalists"). The character of empire, federalism and civil society in Scotland and Quebec shaped the nationalisms that emerged between the Boer War and the First World War.

In this thesis, the author investigates the link between the process of economic and political integration within the European Union and the phenomenon of nationalist assertion. By examining the cases of Flanders and Scotland, it is argued that increased nationalism is a normal and predictable outcome of the process of integration in general, and of the EU more specifically. By analysing four factors--economic incorporation, system-wide policies, systems of transfer payments, and political isolation--the author finds two trends within the nationalist movements. The first is that the nationalist groups seek to acquire several of the powers currently held by the states of which they are currently part, Belgium and the United Kingdom respectively. The second is that these sub-state groups see themselves as part of a new order in which states are losing their significance. Neither of the theories associated with these observations on their own, however, satisfactorily explains the link between integration and increased nationalist assertion in the nationalist movements studied. The conclusion is that the nationalist groups accept the concept of an authority above the level of the state, nation, or region, but emphasise the necessity of a large degree of regional autonomy and a real voice for these regions in the decision-making process of this authority. Since the European Union is and always has been an exclusive club of member states, nationalist groups consider, within the framework of current institutional arrangements, that full statehood may be the only way to achieve their goals.

This thesis deals with the challenge posed to post-imperial British identity by the rise of Scottish political nationalism and its voice the Scottish National Party (SNP) from the late 1960s to 1980. With the ultimate decline of the British Empire in the decades following the Second World War, Britishness, which had been forged through the imperial experience, was fundamentally challenged by older national identities within the United Kingdom. Scottish nationalism was one of these identities which had been subsumed by an imperial British identity for over two hundred years. A combination of the collapse of the industry of empire in Scotland, relative economic deprivation in the 1960s and 1970s, and other Scottish political grievances prompted increased support for the SNP. Scots, viewing themselves as a nation and as distinct in many ways from the rest of the United Kingdom, reacted to the decline of the British unitary state and encouraged the growth of Scottish political nationalism. The political success of the SNP in the late 1960s and 1970s forced the main Westminster parties to address the issue of Scottish nationalism and Scots' sense of alienation from the centre of power. The Royal Commission on the Constitution and the resulting debate over devolution in the late 1970s, prompted by the growth of nationalism, represented the greatest challenge to the legitimacy of the United Kingdom since the Treaty of Union of 1707.