Event: SCFF: Are We in the Right Process?

SCCFThe current process towards a referendum contemplates a referendum campaign and referendum on independence, which if successful would trigger negotiations on independence, and the need for a new Scottish Constitution. Referendum first, constitution-making second. It appears to be largely assumed that Scotland’s constitutional future is largely settled by the label ‘independence’, when in fact some type of new constitution would need to be designed. While the referendum process has been the subject of much debate, the question of Scotland’s post-referendum constitutional process ‘after the fact’ has been much less discussed.

Interestingly, the key difficulty with fashioning a ‘third question’ in the referendum, dealing with some half-way or hybrid between independence and the status quo, is currently alleged to be the fact that this option lacks clear or comprehensive definition. Arguably, a part of the difficulty is that any such definition would require some sort of prior substantive and inclusive process focused on fashioning a constitutional status around substantive constitutional goods and powers, rather than choosing the status first, and finding the constitutional goods and powers to fit the status.

This seminar focuses on constitutional processes, attempting to locate Scotland’s current process within models of constitutional change globally. We also use the seminar to ‘re-imagine’ a process in which form would follow substance, rather than substance being assumed to follow form. While both Scottish and UK government appear committed to the current process, this seminar asks: is there another way and what would it look like? This is not an exercise in wishful thinking. By asking the question of ‘is this the right process?’ we examine what the current independence referendum process enables in terms of constitutional change, but also what it disables.

  • Christine Bell, ‘Scotland Situated: Lesson’s from Comparative Constitutional Processes’
  • Neil Walker, ‘Would we start from here? Imagining Scotland’s Ideal Constitutional Process’

School of Law
University of Edinburgh
Lecture Room 270, Old College, South Bridge

The event is public. To register to attend please email: law.events@ed.ac.uk, with ‘SCCF Feb’ in the subject-matter line.

 

This entry was posted in Events. Bookmark the permalink.

1 Response to Event: SCFF: Are We in the Right Process?

  1. Gail Hallyburton says:

    This is the first seriously relevant area of enquiry on the referendum I have seen on this website. – preceded by a whole load of wishful thinking on feminist / proto scandi socialism that the scandis have grown out of. The serious constitutional questions are entirely unresolved and good luck for raising them. A third question could of course be for further devolution of powers under a federal UK – offering similar to the English regions, Wales and Northern Ireland.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *