Breaking
up Britain:
Four nations after a Union
Mark Perryman (editor)
'This brilliant book helps us understand what Scots, Welsh,
Irish and English neighbours, freed from an unhappy Union, might look like.'
Billy Bragg
May 2009 will be the tenth anniversary of the first elections to the Scottish Parliament and Welsh Assembly. This was the beginning of a decade of change - which now includes the restoration of powers to Stormont - that is showing every sign of being an irreversible process.
Breaking Up Britain is a unique collection of English, Scottish, Welsh and Irish contributors, featuring key political activists from the nationalist parties, commentators and campaigners, academics and journalists. Each writer explores the change that the break-up demands in their own nation, but also discusses its impact upon the whole.
This dialogue of differences is essential reading for anyone interested in the shape of politics and culture after a Union.
READ
SAMPLE CHAPTERS:
Mark Perryman Introduction
Mark Perryman A Jigsaw
State
Kevin Williamson Culture
and the homecoming of Scottishness
Leanne Wood Greening the Welsh
Dragon
ERRATUM
IN THE EDITING OF BREAKING UP BRITAIN A NUMBER OF CHANGES WERE MADE TO GREGOR
GALL'S CHAPTER WHICH DO NOT FULLY REFLECT THE AUTHOR'S ORIGINAL, FOR WHICH
WE APOLOGISE. THE FULL AND ORIGINAL VERSION IS AVAILABLE HERE.
Praise for Mark Perryman's
previous book Imagined Nation:
'Some of the
sharpest thinking around on both the pitfalls of nationalism and the potential
for a progressive English identity'
Gary Younge
'A kind of primer for post-Britons'
David Edgar
Contributors: Gerry Adams, Arthur Aughey, Gregor Gall, John Harris, Michael Kenny, Peadar Kirby, Guy Lodge, Inez McCormack, John Osmond, Mike Parker, Lesley Riddoch, Richard Thomson, Vron Ware, Charlotte Williams, Kevin Williamson, Leanne Wood and Salma Yaqoob.
Mark Perryman is a writer and regular media commentator on Englishness and football, and a research fellow in sport and leisure culture at the University of Brighton. He is convenor of the LondonEnglandFans supporters' group, co-founder of Philosophy Football and author of a number of books, including Ingerland: Travels with a Football Nation and (as editor) Imagined Nation: England after Britain.
CONTENTS
Mark Perryman Introduction
BREAKING UP BRITAIN:
Keynote essay
Mark Perryman A Jigsaw
State
SECTION ONE: POST-DEVOLUTION
NATIONAL IDENTITY
John Harris An English Realignment
Kevin Williamson Language
and culture in a rediscovered Scotland
Charlotte Williams The melting pot and the British meltdown
Arthur Aughey Wild catastrophism to mild moderation in Northern Ireland
SECTION TWO: MODELS OF
CIVIC NATIONALISM
Leanne Wood Greening the Welsh
Dragon
Salma Yaqoob Muslim communities in search of a politics of common ground
Gerry Adams No more Mé Féin but ourselves alone, together and equal
Richard Thomson The social-democratisation of Scottish nationalism
SECTION THREE: FORMATIONS
OF EXCLUSION
Vron Ware The ins and outs of Anglo-Saxonism
Inez McCormack A Northern Irish experience of shaping rights
Gregor Gall In search of a Scottish outside left
Mike Parker Independence - that's when good neighbours become good
friends
SECTION FOUR: STATES
OF INDEPENDENCE
Lesley Riddoch Tartanspotting and the contradictions of being Scots
John Osmond Welsh independence in an era of interdependence
Peadar Kirby How the Celtic Tiger tames Irish dissent
Michael Kenny & Guy Lodge More than one English question
Paperback,
256pp, All rights L&W May 2009
ISBN: 9781905007967