Self-Government

How do we hold power to account in Scotland? Gerry Hassan Scottish Review, July 7th 2021 Scotland has a rich tradition of celebrating its difference and distinctiveness, seeing in its autonomy a kind of semi-independence that is exhibited in civil society, the public sphere and public life. Scotland’s public sphere is one of the main ways we communicate, define ourselves, relate to others in public, and hold power and institutions to account - hence contributing to the democratic and political process. This contributes to an ‘independence of the Scottish mind’ – a distinctive outlook which has evolved and separated from

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Isn’t it time we got serious about democracy? Gerry Hassan Scottish Review, December 12th 2019 Democracy is not in good health in the UK or across most of the developed world. The UK election has not been, putting it mildly, an edifying spectacle or healthy clash of ideas and interests. Instead, it has signalled something deeply wrong in the democratic process – something that the political classes do not seem to understand needs to fundamentally change. This election has not felt owned by people. Rather it has felt like something done to voters by others. This malaise is evident

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Scotland: On the Eve of a Historic Choice Gerry Hassan, Caledonian Dreaming: The Quest for a Different Scotland, Luath Press £11.99 Reviewed by Joe Lafferty On the eve of a historic referendum on Scottish independence in September 2014, Gerry Hassan’s Caledonian Dreaming is a landmark book. He articulates, with incisive political and historical analysis, the landscape of what has taken the UK and Scotland to where they are today. And at the same time, this is a profoundly human book. Hassan is no stranger to serious and heavyweight political analysis with a number of books under his belt from The

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A Letter to Scotland’s New Radicals Gerry Hassan Scottish Review, July 9th 2014 Radical Scotland’s re-emergence and re-invigoration around the independence referendum has been one of the most welcome and positive occurrences for many years in Scottish politics. This is a real challenge and change from the predictable stale menu which has been passed off as our political debate and choices for decades. This is even more true of what has presented itself as radical and left politics. An array of groups, networks and initiatives of which the most prominent are National Collective, the Radical Independence Campaign and Jimmy

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Manifesto for a Culture of Self-Determination Gerry Hassan National Collective/Open Democracy, December 5th 2012 Introduction: Scottish Politics and Language In the last few weeks people have become increasingly aware, and to some extent concerned, about the rising prevalence of a culture of abuse, insult and invective in Scottish politics around and associated with the independence referendum. There is a longer story to this, of the failure and dogma of Labour unionism, of the SNP’s adoption of command and control politics, and of an embryonic self-government movement unable so far to find full form and voice. At the same time

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Self-Government is about more than the Constitution Gerry Hassan The Scotsman, June 4th 2011 The arrival of Scotland’s first majority government is a learning curve for all of us: for the institutions and processes of the Parliament, the political parties, civil servants and media. This is a defining moment for the SNP, for the kind of politics and vision they represent, for how they express their mandate, and how they articulate their ideas of the Scotland of the future. During the election campaign the SNP painted a believable, plausible vision of a different Scotland, a place of green jobs,

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