Reconstruction and Multiculturalism in the Scottish Nation-Building Project

Since the 1980s, there has been debate on the future of nation-states with the rise of nationalist movements in the UK, bringing to light new forms of territorial politics (Keating, 2004). At the level of Scotland, the process of devolution has had significant changes on local parties’ policies. It has enabled political actors to develop their own responses on issues affecting Scotland. As part of the nation-building project, a consensus has been reached between political actors to reconstruct the nation (Meer, 2015). One of the tenets of this nation-building project is the creation of a “multicultural Scotland” and this curious intersection between nationalism and multiculturalism raises questions about the effectiveness of multicultural strategies within a nationalist autonomist framework.This paper attempts to analyze and assess how political actors are positioning minorities within the nation-building project and to what extent this narrative is inclusive of ethnic minorities’ claims. It puts into perspective the idea of the nation-building project in Scotland through putting forward the historical perspective with an overview of the historiography of Scotland. Besides, the evolution of the narratives over multiculturalism and the involvement of ethnic minorities in the reconstruction of the nation will be analysed through a discourse analysis of the main parties’ manifestos. The last part is dedicated to an evaluation of the political elite’s attempt to reconstruct the nation through advancing a multicultural modal.