13:10 - 14:50
P3
Room: South Room 220
Panel Session 3
Anselm Hager - Does Giving Voice Increase Political Engagement?Evidence From a Natural Field Experiment
Clint Claessen - Ideology or career? On the individual and structural reasons for joining youth parties
Monika Bozhinoska Lazarova - Do parties ‘act as they talk’ about immigrant incorporation?
Mike Cowburn - How Local Factions Pressure Parties: Activist Groups & Primary Contests in the Tea Party Era
Michael Heaney - Party, Movement, and Representation of Independence Supporters in Scotland
Party, Movement, and Representation of Independence Supporters in Scotland
P3-05
Presented by: Michael Heaney
Michael Heaney
University of Glasgow
Political parties and social movements are different but overlapping forms of political representation for supporters of a cause. While parties and movements may seek some of the same objectives, they usually diverge consiriably in their preferred tactics and aproaches to politics. Scotland provides an excellent case in point whether the Scottish National Party (SNP) and the Scottish independence movement each seek to promote the Scotland's separation from the United Kingdom. This paper examines new data collected as part of the 2021 Scottish Election Study to examine differences between movement activists and party activists in their attitudes and political behavior. Preliminary data analysis shows a close alignment between the two groups in their expressed national identities (epecially favoring "Scottish" over "British") but variance concerning their preferred routes to independence. Party activists register a greater approval of traditional, institutional channels, with movement activists leaning toward greater confrontation with state authorities. The results are informative to understanding both the nature of interest representation and to the politics of Scotland and the United Kingdom.