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The Political Economy of Small European States: And Lessons for Scotland

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2020

Michael Keating  and
Malcolm Harvey
Michael Keating*
Affiliation:
University of Aberdeen and Scottish Centre on Constitutional Change
Malcolm Harvey*
Affiliation:
University of Aberdeen and Scottish Centre on Constitutional Change
*
E-mail: m.keating@abdn.ac.uk
malcolm.harvey@abdn.ac.uk
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Abstract

An independent Scotland would be a small European state. Small states may be at a disadvantage in world markets but can also adapt successfully. There are different modes of adaptation, notably the market-liberal mode and the social investment state. Either mode is dependent on internal institutions, social relationships and modes of policymaking. It is not possible to pick and choose items of different models since they have an internal coherence. The Scottish White Paper on independence supports the social investment state. Scotland has some, but not all, of the prerequisites for this so that independence would require internal adaptation.

Keywords

Scotlandglobalisationpolitical economyO1O2H1H4
Type
Research Articles
Information
National Institute Economic Review , Volume 227 , February 2014 , pp. R54 - R66
Copyright
Copyright © 2014 National Institute of Economic and Social Research

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Footnotes

This work is supported by an ESRC Senior Research Fellowship under the Future of the UK and Scotland programme.

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