News and opinion

Cutting through the noise

Cutting through the noise: what do the polls tell us about the election in Scotland?

Is the perception of Scottish polls being "all over the place" accurate?

In this piece, Mark McGeoghegan analyses the diverse data and types of polls available to cut through the noise and identify the underlying trends in Scottish polling without overstating the certainty of the predictions we can make.
A Parliament for All report front cover

Blog - Scottish Parliament report advances international agenda on gender-sensitising parliamentary reforms

In this blog, Professor Sarah Childs, Dr Meryl Kenny and Professor Fiona Mackay discuss the Scottish Parliament's new report on reforms to gender representation and participation at Holyrood.
Westminster

Estimating semantic change in UK constitutional discourse

Alex Schwartz, Senior Lecturer in Public Law at the University of Glasgow examines informal semantic changes that may have accompanied more formal changes to the UK's constitutions over the past few decades. 
Scottish Parliament Chamber

New review into representation of women in Scottish Parliament

CCC Co-Director Meryl Kenny has joined the academic advisory board for a new review of the representation and participation of women in the Scottish Parliament, launched today by Holyrood’s Presiding Officer Alison Johnstone.
Doorway with polling station sign

Did COVID-19 change campaigning in the Scottish and Welsh Parliament Elections of 2021? Evidence from campaign spending returns

Following campaign spending returns being published this week by the Electoral Commission, Dr Alistair Clark, Reader in Politics at Newcastle University, analyses how election campaign spending might have changed under Covid-19 circumstances in the Scottish and Welsh elections of 2021.
Image of the windows of the Scottish Parliament

The neverending stooshie: the Salmond and Sturgeon debacle

Fraser McMillan, University of Glasgow, discusses the events over the last few weeks relating to Alex Salmond, the First Minister and the SNP, asking what will be the impact on the SNP's prospects at May's election?
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Multicultural Scotland

Ross Bond, University of Edinburgh, examines the demographic structure and history of Scotland, and the attitudes, identities and experiences of its people.
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Who do you say you are? The politics of national identity

David McCrone analyses the politics of national identity in Scotland comparing it to England's sense of national identity for his chapter in the Oxford Handbook of Scottish Politics.
Globe

Small States in the Modern World: Opportunities and Vulnerabilities

Michael Keating, University of Aberdeen, discusses requirements for small states to thrive, arguing that small states do equally or better than larger states.