British and Commonwealth studies

On 29 March 2019, the day the United Kingdom was originally due to leave the European Union, VisitScotland launched its ‘Europe: let’s continue our love affair’ campaign. That ‘love affair’ goes back to the thirteenth century, when Scotland entered the Auld Alliance with France (Treaty of Paris, 1295). Well into the eighteenth century, Scotland established numerous European connections which were sustained by ‘the culture of migration’. The most important of these, in numerical terms, was the presence of Scottish mercenaries in various European armies (Denmark, Sweden, Holland, France, Russia, etc.)

The permanent or temporary migration of Scots to European countries also contributed to the creation of economic (e.g. the ‘Little Scotland’ quarter at Gdansk), political (e.g. Whigs in the Netherlands, Jacobites in France, Spain and Italy), intellectual/educational (e.g. students in Faculties of Law and Medicine) and artistic (e.g. painters and architects in Rome) networks. In the eighteenth century, these were supplemented by the numerous travels of Scottish aristocrats going on their Grand Tour, sometimes with their tutors (e.g. Adam Smith with the Duke of Buccleugh).

Smout has argued that ‘more than England, Scotland was a European country, more at ease in, and less suspicious of, other cultures. Possibly this legacy left the Scots less afraid of modern Europe than the English appear to be at the present day’ (T.C. Smout, ‘The Culture of Migration. Scots as Europeans 1500-1800’).

In the June 1975 Referendum, Scotland did vote to stay in the EEC. However, it is striking that except for Northern Ireland, Scotland had the lowest turnout (61.7%) and the lowest ‘yes’ vote – 58.2% as opposed to 68.7% in England. Forty-one years later, Scotland polled the highest ‘remain’ vote in the United Kingdom with 62%.

This course will first explore some Scottish networks in early modern and modern Europe with primary source-based studies. It will then focus at length on the relationship between Scotland and the European Union in the last forty years and on how the SNP’s adoption of a policy of ‘independence in Europe’ in 1988 and the Brexit vote in 2016 have impacted the debate on Scottish independence.

Formule standard session 1 : contrôle continu : un devoir sur table de 2 heures à mi-semestre (commentaire de texte ou dissertation) 50% + un devoir sur table de 2 heures en fin de semestre (commentaire de texte ou dissertation) 50%. 
La note finale sera pondérée par la participation orale tout au long du semestre (préparation de textes, prise de parole, exposé etc.)

Formule dérogatoire session 1 : une épreuve sur table en 3 heures (commentaire de texte ou dissertation).

Session 2 : une épreuve sur table en 3 heures (commentaire de texte ou dissertation).

Dardanelli, Paolo, Between two unions: Europeanisation and Scottish devolution ( Manchester : Manchester University Press, 2005)

Ditchburn, David, Scotland and Europe: The Medieval Kingdom and its Contacts with Christendom, c. 1215–1545. Volume 1 : Religion, Culture and Commerce (East Linton: Tuckwell Press, 2000)

Grosjean, Alexia, and Steve Murdoch, eds. Scottish Communities Abroad in the Early Modern Period (Leiden: Brill, 2005)

Ichijo, Atsuko, Scottish Nationalism and the Idea of Europe: Concepts of Europe and the Nation (London: Routledge, 2004)

Murkens, Jo E., Scotland’s Place in Europe, The Constitution Unit, 2001

Mijers, Esther, ‘News from the Republick of Letters’ Scottish Students, Charles Mackie and the United Provinces, 1650-1750 (Leiden: Brill, 2012)

Mycock, Andrew, ‘SNP, identity and citizenship: Re-imagining state and nation,’ National Identities 14.1 (2012) 53–69

The Oxford Handbook of Modern Scottish History, ed. by T.M. Devine and Jenny Wormald ( Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2012), chs 7, 16, 26 & 27

Scotland’s Future: Your guide to an independent Scotland, The Scottish Government, 2013.

Scotland’s Place in Europe, The Scottish Government, December 2016

Scotland’s Place in Europe : Our way forward, The Scottish Government, October 2018

Smout, T.C., ed. Scotland and Europe 1200–1850 (Edinburgh: John Donald, 1986)
—, ‘The Culture of Migration. Scots as Europeans, 1500–1800,’ History Workshop Journal 40( 1995) 108–117.