Scottish Political System Since Devolution

Paul Cairney

Description

This book presents a narrative of Scottish politics since devolution in 1999. It compares eight years of coalition government under Scottish Labour and the Scottish Liberal Democrats with four years of Scottish National Party minority government.It outlines the relative effect of each government on Scottish politics and public policy in various contexts, including: high expectations for 'new politics' that were never fully realised; the influence of, and reactions from, the media and public; the role of political parties; the Scottish Government's relations with the UK Government, EU institutions, local government, quasi-governmental and non-governmental actors; and, the finance available to fund policy initiatives. It then considers how far Scotland has travelled on the road to constitutional change, comparing the original devolved framework with calls for independence or a new devolution settlement.The book draws heavily on information produced since 1999 by the Scottish Devolution Monitoring project (which forms one part of the devolution monitoring project led by the Constitution Unit, UCL) and is supplemented by new research on public policy, minority government, intergovernmental relations and constitutional change.

Sujets

• Escocia
• Scotland

Informations

• Publié par: Andrews UK
• Date de parution: 30 janvier 2012
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781845403386
• Langue: English

Extrait

Title Page
THE SCOTTISH POLITICAL SYSTEM SINCE DEVOLUTION
From New Politics to the New Scottish Government
Paul Cairney



Title Page Verso
Copyright © Paul Cairney, 2011
The moral rights of the author have been asserted.
No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form without permission, except for the quotation of brief passages in criticism and discussion.
Originally published in the UK by
Imprint Academic, PO Box 200, Exeter EX5 5YX, UK
Originally published in the USA by
Imprint Academic, Philosophy Documentation Center
PO Box 7147, Charlottesville, VA 22906-7147, USA
Digital version converted and published in 2012 by
Andrews UK Limited
www.andrewsuk.com



Dedication
For my lovely partner Linda,
our beautiful children, Evie, Alfie and Frankie,
and our smelly but handsome dog
(who can be seen here: http://smallvillagebigdog.wordpress.com/ )



List of Abbreviations
AMS
Additional Member System
ASBO
Anti-social Behaviour Order
CAP
Common Agricultural Policy (EU)
CCR
Collective cabinet responsibility
CCT
Compulsory Competitive Tendering
CFP
Common Fisheries Policy (EU)
COSLA
Convention of Scottish Local Authorities
CPD
Continuous Professional Development
CSG
Consultative Steering Group
DCA
Deparment for Constitutional Affairs
ECHR
European Convention on Human Rights
ECtHR
European Court of Human Rights
EIS
Educational Institute for Scotland
EU
European Union
EYF
End Year Flexibility
(Scottish Executive savings from assigned budget)
FM
First Minister
FOI
Freedom of information
HMIe
Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Education
IGR
Intergovernmental relations
JMC
Joint Ministerial Committee
LCM
Legislative Consent (Sewel) Motion
LSVT
Large scale voluntary transfer (council housing stocks)
LTS
Learning and Teaching Scotland
MLG
Multi-level governance
MMP
Mixed Member Proportional (electoral system)
MOU
Memorandum of Understanding
MP
Member of Parliament (Westminster, UK)
MPA
Ministerial Parliamentary Aide (later Parliamentary Liaison Officer)
MSP
Member of the Scottish Parliament
NCT
Negotiating Committee for Teachers
NDPB
Non Departmental Public Body (quango)
NEBU
Non-Executive Bills Unit
NHS
National Health Service
NICE
National Institute for health and Clinical Excellence
PFI
Private Finance Initiative
PPP
Public Private Partnerships
PR
Proportional representation
PSA
Public Service Agreement
Quango (QNG)
Qua si-autonomous N on- G overnmental O rganisation
SCC
Scottish Constitutional Convention
SCF
Scottish Civic Forum
SCVO
Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations
SEPA
Scottish Environmental Protection Agency
SFT
Scottish Futures Trust
SMC
Scottish Medicines Consortium
SNCT
Scottish Negotiating Committee for Teachers
SNP
Scottish National Party
SOA
Single Outcome Agreement
SPADs
Special advisers
SPCB
Scottish Parliament Corporate Body
SPICe
Scottish Parliament Information Centre
SQA
Scottish Qualifications Authority
SSP
Scottish Socialist Party
STUC
Scottish Trades Union Congress
STV
Single transferable vote (not Scottish Television)



Preface
I wanted to start the book with something punchy about the importance of Scottish devolution. I settled on ‘Devolution in 1999 was a major event in Scottish politics’ but, as a careful academic, instantly felt the need to qualify this statement to death - which would defeat the purpose. Instead, I decided to qualify it here. There are two standard qualifications. The first is that devolution is a ‘process, not an event’. This statement is generally attributed to former Welsh Secretary Ron Davies who used it to assure Welsh people that their initial devolution settlement would be improved as devolution became popular and its institutions and politicians more mature. However, it is also used by commentators in Scotland to counter the sense of a devolution ‘settlement’ which will go no further. Devolution is going further even if independence doesn’t happen.
Second, we play down the importance of that event in two main ways. We identify points of continuity in Scottish politics, suggesting that administrative devolution existed long before political devolution and that key institutions - relating to education, local government, the legal system and the church - are decades or centuries old. Indeed, Kellas’ (1989) famous argument is that a ‘Scottish Political System’ existed before 1999. We also question the novelty of ‘new politics’, a rather vague term generally used to describe our hopes and dreams regarding devolution (Mitchell, 2000). But, still, devolution in 1999 was a major event in Scottish politics. We can say the same for the next sentence on the shift from a unitary to a quasi-federal state, and then my suggestion that we have a new political system. These are problematic statements but I don’t want you to fall asleep before I get past my introductory paragraph. Just go with it if you know the unitary/union state/quasi-federal literature or the political system debate already, ignore it, or read up on it (I recommend McGarvey and Cairney, 2008) and come back to this book later.
This study of Scottish devolution draws heavily from the devolution monitoring programme led by Robert Hazell in the UCL’s Constitution Unit. The Scottish Devolution Monitoring effort has been led by Graham Leicester, James Mitchell, Peter Jones, Akash Paun, Charlie Jeffery, Nicola McEwen, and Paul Cairney (also note the Constitution Unit’s ‘Devolution and Health’ reports, which ran from 1999-2001). There have been many contributors to the individual parts of the Scottish reports on which I draw: David Bell, Eberhard Bort, Julie Brown, Paul Cairney, Alex Christie, John Curtice, John Harris, Charlie Jeffery, Michael Keating, Peter Lynch, Lynne MacMillan, Nicola McEwen, Neil McGarvey, James Mitchell, Akash Paun, Kirsty Regan, Nicholas Rengger, Jane Saren, Philip Schlesinger, David Scott, Mark Shephard, Alan Trench, Barry Winetrobe, and Alex Wright. I would like to take this opportunity to thank them for their hard work. I have this nagging feeling that some contributors will think that I am just pinching their work and calling it my own, when in fact I am trying to get the most out of these reports. In particular, I would like to thank Neil McGarvey and Barry Winetrobe, who read most of the chapters and gave me some very