Introduction to International Relations

In the context of the idea of “Nationalism”, what are the differences between the Scottish National Party and the British National Party? BODY OF WORK Being today a central issue of the modern world, Nationalism, a term from nasci which means “to be born”, has most of the time been considered as a 19th century phenomenon, connected to the development and creation of nation-states .While seen by a large number of critics as outdated in other word old, not just because it is inherently expansionist but also destructive, others in meantime see it as a strength to re-enforce order and solve conflict. Thus, the issue of nationalism will therefore depend on a system every country adopts.

If we take the United Kingdom(UK),a constitutional monarchy and unitary states which is composed of four(4) countries :England(London),Northern Ireland(Belfast),Wales(Cardiff) and Scotland(Edinburgh) has been governed by a Parliamentary system.However,it is argued that nationalism within the UK is both reactionary and progressive . The simply reason of this statement is that in different parts of UK,the notion of nationalism has components of both looking towards the future inclusively and progressively but ,also looking to their past regressively thus hoping to bring back their historical period.Britain and Scotland, being among these parts of UK, have for a centuries had political parties sometimes based on similar ideas but most of the time different from each others. The British nationalism referring to the nationalist ideas and policies’ application to the United Kingdom tends to promote the UK as a goal for national identity, social movements, comprises political and sentiment inspired by the love of British language, culture , history and ot forgotten the pride of being British. Supported ,politically from the Euro scepticism of the conservative United Kingdom Independence Party and far-right British national party to the centre-right conservative Party and the left-centrist Liberal Democrats, British nationalism has had a progressive cause characterised by “a powerful but ambivalent force in British politics”.From this British nationalism, a party called the British national party will be one of our aim studies in this topic.

As for Scotland, Nationalism being a political ideology and created in 1921 as primarily body based in London and largely influenced by Sinn Fein ,has most of the time supported greater autonomy for Scotland as part of the United Kingdom, but also the creation of a sovereign state.In which case Scottish nationalism can be referred to three (3) main elements: -The Scottish Independence with the advocacy of Scotland becoming a sovereign state -The Scottish national party with the main political party that support Scottish Independence. -The Scottish home rule, an organisation knew before the Devolved Scottish Parliament was created in 1999 that had for purpose to give Scotland the autonomy within the British Empire. From this nationalism , derived a national party called the Scottish national party.It is therefore in the process Nationalism that, our aim target will be to identify the differences between the two major national parties in the United Kingdom known as the British National Party (BNP) and the Scottish National To begin with, we should start by saying that the Scottish National Party (SNP), a civic party with strong democratic leanings and non-nationalist was first created in (1934) having as aim to promote justice, caring and enterprising community by making Scottish potential as an independent nation in the mainstream of modern Europe.Wishing to be completely independent from Britain, the Scottish national party has always wanted to be a separate state making its own decisions not just in Europe but throughout the world, this is why Scottish political parties such as, the SNP encourage progressive attitudes that are principally based on two main(2) things:the long term desire to become but also the ambition to be entirely inclusive with global organisation such as Europe . While the British National Party, reated in (1982) by a group of the National Front with John Tyndall, is a far-right, fascist political party combined with a white supremacy organisation that stands for anti-non british,because it believes that there are significant differences between races, one of the party’s main objectives is to restore by legal methods white ethnicity, which existed prior to 1948 in a way that anything that does not fit their narrow stereotype is meant to be kept away from the party.

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Adding to this, it has to be said that the British national party adoring men like Adolf Hitler of German Nazi is almost claimed to be a Nazi political party as well. Another reason that makes the difference between the two parties is that, the Scottish national party has always wanted an open door to all races and nationalities in the sense that even non-Scottish people have been accepted to be members of the party without forgetting the fact that this was the first party to have a Muslim MSP as member.After independence, anyone living in Scotland could claim a Scottish citizenship under the SNP constitution with an open door policy on immigration compared to Britain ,where immigration still a dominant issue thus blaming immigrants for any possible problem . It is even believed that the British national party has for wish to put the white British- born before immigrants and non- british,stopping immigration and repatriate people of different races, presently living in the UK to the respective countries .In a speech given by Nick Griffin ,the actual leader of the British national party(BNP),he declared that “it is probably now too late to anticipate a return to the status quo ante 1948 “ therefore suggested a new model of “milti-culturalism”. This model was meant to lead by a policy of cultural and biological separation ,not by principles of integration, this could allow people to enjoy each other’s culture and tradition but each staying on their own in order to avoid “diversity” which could be but a short –lived stepping stone to nothingness.An expected outcome of the method as Tyndall said, was going to be in the image of a south-African apartheid-style system with like he said “separate communities of people –Indian ,Pakistani, Bangladeshi(Hindu and Muslim),African and Afro-Caribbean and heaven knows what else-living side by side in Britain in separate enclaves”.

This is to show that although immigrations issues were trying to be solved there were nevertheless still based on strict principles that had to be followed. Principles that were completely different from the one the Scottish national party made.These days, the Scottish national party does not have a lot to deal with national parties in eastern and central Europe particularly because most of them are rather right wing ,among them men like, Michal Kaminski of the polish law and justice party. Also, in the European parliament for Freedom and fatherland party, it will be noticed that men like David Cameron will definitely be comfortable to sit with Latvia whereas it would be hard if not never for the Scottish party to Roberts Zile from the FFF to the next Bannockburn shindig.This is to prove that racism is not a big concern in Scottish nationalism because there is no race problem in Scotland. Moreover, there are also differences regarding the concern of the British and Scottish public as a whole. While Scotland is much more concerned about the unemployment as a big problem to face, Britain on its side is more worried about the economic field which is very frequent nowadays.

In the other hand, crime, law and order are very serious matters in Britain than in Scotland where it is more likely to be concerned about the education. Furthermore ,another difference between the British national party and the Scottish one is that, the Scottish national party, being left wing is very focused on what people living in Scotland will be in the future regardless what the religion or skin colour are, while the British national, being right wing wants to go back to their old values.In terms of Military issue, providing that it is the government in Westminster that is in charge to send soldiers at war, Scotland plays a very small part in sending soldiers for defence ,war and terrorism compared to Britain that is more concerned about this issue. To conclude with this topic, it shall be said that although, these two are different parties in different countries, the differences between them is all about Racism, Immigrations and Political issues.In terms of racism, the British national party states that their constitution has for purpose, the preservation of the ethnic and national typical character of the British people themselves . David Blackburn writes for the spectator coffee house that “the BNP is no longer a racist party, but a party of racists” in respond to the news that the British national party membership look to vote in favour of allowing the non-whites and non-British to join the party while the Scottish national party has always wanted an open door to all races and nationalities no matter colour, gender and creed there are.In terms of political issues, Scotland is a minority within the UK (United Kingdom) which means the decision-making process stays in the goal of the majority included Britain .

Therefore; policies that suit Scotland are often not taken into consideration. In terms of immigrations issues, differences have also been seen above with the British national party wanting to repatriate all immigrants or sometimes create strict principles that have to be followed by all immigrants. Whereas, the Scottish national party has and still fighting against immigration, thus giving citizenship to those claiming for it.So basically, these are some of the differences in brief between the British national party and the Scottish national party, although there could others points according to different points of viReferences and Bibliography David B. , Nick G. ,”Changing course or changing Clothes? ”Reflection on the ideological evolution of the British national party 1999-2006 , pp81 Iain M. , gardian.

co. uk, Monday 8 June 2009 14. 00 BST IN Last night was the SNP’s night Arthur A. ,”Nationalism, Devolution and the Challenge to the United Kingdom

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