The National Question: Parties and Voters in Quebec and Scotland

Abstract

This panel presents the findings from a collaborative project that analyses the impact of the ‘national question’ on the strategies of political parties and on voter behaviour in Scotland and Quebec. Constitutional debates are highly prominent in both sub-state nations, evidenced by the holding of referendums on independence in Quebec in 1980 and 1995, and Scotland in 2014. These debates have provided us with a unique opportunity to understand the electoral calculus underlying the positions of Scotland’s and Quebec’s political parties on the national question, and to understand how voters might be influenced by these party positions when making their electoral choices. The project therefore aims at developing a better understanding of the electoral dynamics of ‘small nations’ seeking enhanced sovereignty by comparing Scotland and Quebec. Using a theoretical framework of issue ownership and territorial contagion, the panel examines how Scottish and Quebec parties position themselves vis-à-vis the national question, and how Scottish and Quebec voters react to this party offer.

Title	Details
The Contagion Effect and Owning the ‘National Question’ in Scotland and Quebec	View Paper Details
Party Behaviour in Quebec: Ownership, Contagion, and Multi-dimensionality of the National Question	View Paper Details
Voting Behaviour in Scotland: The National Question as a Valence or Positional Issue	View Paper Details
Voter Behaviour and Owning the National Question in Quebec	View Paper Details