The contradictory political economy of an independent Scotland

This paper aims to analyse the contradictions of the political economy of an independent Scotland as proposed by the Scottish government. In its White Paper on independence the government declares that the people of an independent Scotland would be able to draft distinct social and economic policies based on distinct Sottish values. By referring to McCrone’s concept of the Scottish frame of reference, the paper argues that the values the programme is based on are not distinctively Scottish. Rather, Scottish identity is used to frame values that are shared all over the UK as genuinely Scottish. The assumption is put up that the proposals of the Scottish government are, just as the supposed distinct values, not significantly different to current UK policies, but are framed as distinctively Scottish. The paper will come to conclusion that this assumption is credible. The contradictions in the programme show that the governing party fails to offer alternative policies that could alleviate the existing inequality and live up to its own expectation of creating a fairer society.