Countdown to Relaunch!

It’s not long until the first event of the re-launched History Lab North East. We’re looking forward to welcoming postgraduate students from across the region to Northumbria University on the 15 February for a discussion on the ‘relevance of history’. We’ve got a great selection of topics to base our discussion on, through which we will ask whether historical research can, or should, contribute to today’s world. With Sir John Seeley’s explanation that ‘history is past politics; and politics present history’ ringing in our ears, it seems likely that contemporary politics will feature high on the agenda. For starters, Stephen - one of our organisers - has written a short piece on the 'relevance of history' in relation to one aspect of the current debate on Scottish independence, which you can read below.

André, Stan and Stephen

History Lab North East Organisers

 

Scottish Membership of the EU

In 2014 there will be a referendum in Scotland on Scottish independence. Much of the debate about what an independent Scotland would look like has centred on whether it could automatically retain membership of the European Union, or whether it would need to reapply. Supporters of independence – eager to play down the potential uncertainties of independence – argue for the former scenario, while unionists – equally eager to highlight the uncertainties – maintain the latter. Perhaps in contrast to the debates surrounding Europe taking place south of the border– which are largely over whether the UK should leave the EU – supporters and opponents of Scottish independence are alike in assuming a Scottish bias in favour of remaining in Europe. Whether or not such an assumption is accurate, and without taking a view on the merits of independence, let us look to history to examine whether an independent Scotland can expect to remain part of the European Union.

Indeed, that is what an academic from Northwestern University in Illinois has done. Professor Scheffer has argued that with Scottish independence – which would mean the scrapping of the 1707 Act of Union between Scotland and England – both Scotland and the remainder of the United Kingdom would become ‘successor states’. This would mean that Scotland and the UK would have an equal right to EU membership, with both needing to renegotiate the precise details of their respective memberships. If the UK was created by the 1707 Anglo-Scottish Act of Union, then Professor Scheffer’s view would seem to be the most logical. Opponents of independence disagree, though Professor Scheffer may feel that it is for them to explain why the nullification of the historical and legal basis of the joint Anglo-Scottish state would not result in the creation of two separate entities constitutionally equal in their relationship with the European Union.

One such explanation may be that the United Kingdom of 1707 has been superseded by more recent historical events, for instance the 1800 Act of Union with Ireland (not to mention the subsequent independence of much of Ireland, and the creation of Northern Ireland) and the creation of a Welsh Assembly, granting greater national political recognition to what officially remains an English principality. In this interpretation, history may be used to demonstrate that Scotland has simply become one of many constituent parts of a larger British union, and that Scotland’s exit would not necessarily mean the end of the UK. Thus the UK can perhaps expect to remain part of the EU, while an independent Scotland would not. Arguably then, history is relevant to this particular present-day question in any way that you like. History can be called upon by supporters and opponents of Scottish independence.

Yet the question of Scottish EU membership – if and when it arises, and indeed if the UK itself is still in the EU – will more likely be settled through Europe-wide negotiations which will largely take into account contemporary legal, economic and political considerations. In this particular case, there is no precedent of a complicated little collection of islands, like the British Isles, renegotiating their places within the European Union. So in more ways than one, history doesn’t give any easy answers.