What Kind of Country Does Scotland Want to Be? Visions of an Independent State in SNP Political Discourse

This paper asks the question of what vision(s) on Scottish independence is constructed in the political discourse of the Scottish National Party (SNP). Brexit has presented the SNP with an opportunity to portray Scottish independence as a means for Scottish citizens to assert their distinctiveness vis-à-vis a certain English identity, often ascribed to the Tories and conservative politics. However, the SNP also stresses that independence is a means to embrace a more cosmopolitan and pro-EU version of Scotland. At the same time there are indications that Scottish citizens might have quite heterogeneous preferences with regards to independence, EU membership and cosmopolitan values. This can be said to present the SNP with a dilemma to the extent that the party seeks to enhance the popular support for Scottish independence at the same time as there might be different and possibly incompatible visions on independence among Scottish citizens. In a nutshell, it is not clear what kind of country Scotland wants to be. This paper seeks to contribute to the analysis of the politics on Scottish independence in the context of Brexit by way of tracing the evolution of key themes and tropes in SNP political discourse combined with interview data from SNP officials. Keywords: Brexit, discourse, European Union, independence, Scotland, SNP