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Second, the referendum experience suggests that lowering the voting age has the potential to harness this energy and engage young people with representative democracy. This goes beyond the referendum-specific effect (as also evidenced by research in Austria following the lowering of the voting age there). Schools have a crucial role to play. Those young people who had discussed the referendum in class had greater political confidence – an effect that talking to parents could not produce. Fears about inappropriate forms of ideologising school students could not be backed up empirically. To increase young people’s engagement with politics, enfranchising them at 16 and providing a space for engagement through schools would most likely be highly beneficial. Politicisation in schools should be embraced and the great work of teachers supported through appropriate curriculum space and materials. Jan Eichorn is Chancellor’s Fellow in Sociology at the University of Edinburgh and Principal Investigator on the project ‘Young persons’ attitudes on Scotland’s constitutional future’
Setback or progress for the national movement? – Nicola McEwen Does the rejection of independence in the referendum suggest that Scotland’s future is now cemented within the Union? The result was clearly a defeat for the Yes campaign, but for the SNP in particular, the referendum was never only about winning or losing. Viewed historically, securing 45 per cent support for Scotland to be an independent
country has to be seen as significant progress for supporters of independence, while the campaign itself generated a mass pro-independence movement which went far beyond the SNP’s rank and file. All of this helps to ensure that debates about Scotland’s place within the Union, and its degree of political autonomy, will continue. All three UK parties had pledged to strengthen
devolution, and are now committed to doing so through a cross-party process under the auspices of the Smith commission. That process includes the SNP, and involves engagement with civic Scotland. It is unlikely to produce a lasting settlement which can appease those whose motivations are to maximise Scotland’s decision-making autonomy. Meanwhile, the SNP has witnessed a dramatic upsurge in party membership – from 25,642 on referendum day to 75,000 (and rising) within two weeks – far higher than all other Scottish parties put together. In the coming months, the SNP will seek to redefine the terms of the ‘devo max’ debate, and try to push their competitors further than they have thus far been willing to go. Going forward, we can expect the SNP to revert to the gradualist strategy that has dominated the party’s recent history, pursuing a more incremental path towards greater Scottish self-government, with independence remaining the medium- to long-term goal. Nicola McEwen is Professor of Territorial Politics at the University of Edinburgh and Associate Director of the ESRC Centre on Constitutional Change
AUTUMN 2014 SOCIETY NOW 17
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