Introduction: territoriality in the ‘most cohesive society in Europe’

The existence of a cohesive society is often taken for granted in Scotland, and community cohesion has not featured as a concern of government in the same way as it has in England. The term is rarely used in policy debates and there have been no reports or inquiries relating to community cohesion in Scotland. When it has been used, it has usually been introduced by those familiar with developments in England. To take the example of cohesion between religious groups and/or ethnic groups, in response to the car bomb at Glasgow Airport in summer 2007, First Minister Alex Salmond commented that the general lack of retaliatory incidents was ‘a tribute to the cohesion of Scotland and the major efforts that have been made by police and others in terms of general cohesion and community support’ (quoted in BBC, 2007). On the same theme at a meeting with ‘Muslim leaders’ he maintained: ‘I think we are ahead of every other European society on this. Rather than alienation, the predominant feeling is one of identification’ (quoted in Dinwoodie, 2007). As can be gleaned from these pronouncements, there is a struggle within Scotland to imagine itself – or to present itself – as a modern European nation that is socially integrated. These struggles are perhaps intensifying now under a Scottish National Partyled devolved government, as nationalism lends itself to the idea that difference starts only at the English border (McCrone, 1992).

Some might dismiss this as self-delusion, but the debate about community cohesion, as well as being more muted, is definitely different in Scotland. In England it is held in the context of a changing society, arising from differences between social, religious and ethnic groups and rapid changes in cities and neighbourhoods brought on by external migration and internal segregation. In contrast, community cohesion issues in Scotland, even if they are identified in different language, more often represent longstanding divisions in what has been for a long time a less dynamic society. A primary example of the persistence of old divisions is the previous Scottish administration's programme to tackle the embarrassment of sectarianism, in which the former First Minister presented Scotland in general as a place where ‘the rich and varied traditions that make up 21st century Scotland are what makes our society so dynamic’ (McConnell, 2006, p 1).