Sovereignty and Nationalism in the Twenty-first Century: The Scottish Case

It has been argued that owing to a number of social changes in the modern world, the nature of sovereignty has been substantially modified. This article explores the possible implication of the re-conceptualization of sovereignty to nationalism studies, given that there is a supposed strong link between sovereignty and nationalism, by examining contemporary Scottish political discourse. It was found that current Scottish political discourse has incorporated the re-conceptualization of sovereignty while it remains essentially nationalist, thus confirming that sovereignty and nationalism are two separate concepts. It suggests that a stricter conceptual separation of the nation and the state would be beneficial in order to enhance the quality of nationalism studies.