The New Legitimacy of Auld Scotland: A Political Discourse Analysis of Scottish Arguments for Independence and EU Membership in the post-Brexit Age

Sammanfattning

This thesis explores arguments and styles of argumentation in favour of Scotland gaining independence and rejoining the European Union in the aftermath of the United Kingdom leaving the EU in 2020. Since a majority of Scots did not support Brexit, it has provided Scottish independence supporters with a unique opportunity to bolster their arguments in the political debate. The thesis is built on a theoretical framework integrating Scottish democratic nationalism with Anderson’s and Calhoun’s theories on nationalism, along with the theory of viability utilised to explain pro-EU attitudes among European secessionist movements. By employing Fairclough’s method of political discourse analysis for practical argumentation, the thesis examines and compares arguments identified in articles collected from two civil society organisations, Believe in Scotland and the European Movement in Scotland, as well as a number of government papers published by the Scottish Government. The findings show that the undermining of Scottish democratic institutions, the poor economic performance of the UK, and the loss of British international influence, combined with comparisons to other European countries, are used to argue in favour of Scotland becoming independent and rejoining the EU. The thesis concludes that Brexit has damaged the legitimacy of the UK in Scotland, consequently enabling Scottish advocates of independence and EU membership to present their case as a legitimate and realistic option for Scotland’s political future.