Independence and Interdependence: In September 2014, Scots will pass judgement on whether Scotland should be an independent country. But what does it mean to be ‘an independent country’ in an interdependent world? The Scottish government’s vision of independence has emphasised the continued associations that Scotland and the rest of the UK would still share. Independence would not cut Scotland off from its neighbours, but would mark a new relationship with the rest of the UK. A partnership of equals, in which we continued to share a social union, a currency union, a labour market, an energy market, a common travel area, and a variety of other possible institutions and services.
But how feasible is this form of ‘embedded independence’? And would it really be a partnership of equals?