Perspectives on small state security in the scottish independence debate

During the Scottish independence referendum campaign, considerable attention was paid, by Scotland's political leaders, its voters, and actors in the international community, to the question of what an independent Scotland's foreign policy might look like. An independent Scotland would quickly find itself in a world that puts many constraints on states' international aspirations. But as a sovereign state, Scotland would have the opportunity to shape the role it would play on the world stage. This chapter examines the debate over an independent Scottish foreign policy during the independence campaign. We describe the type of foreign policy that was projected by the Scottish National Party (SNP) Government in Scotland and the reaction to that projection by actors opposed to independence. We argue that the underlying difference in the two sides was the perspective on small state foreign and security policy and that this difference resonates with long-standing academic debates about small states, and their insecurities, in world politics.