Symbolism of the Scottish Devolution (Paperback)

Seminar paper from the year 2005 in the subject English Language and Literature Studies - Culture and Applied Geography, grade: 2, University of Wurzburg (Institut fur Anglistik und Amerikanistik), course: Zwischen Krone und Empire - Schlusselmomente britischer Kultur und Politik, 36 entries in the bibliography, language: English, comment: This seminar paper examines the use of symbolism in the process of Scottish Devolution in the late 20th and early 21st century. After an introduction to Scottish symbols and their history the paper focuses on the use of those during the reopening of the Scottish Parliament in 1999, that of the new parliament building in 2004 and the use of symbolic allusions there. The seminar paper finishes off with an attempt to explain and define the importance of symbols in the Scottish Devolution., abstract: Devolution has been the major political development in Scotland of the last decade. The events leading up to it and the actual process itself have been strongly underlined through the use of old symbols and the creation of new ones. This seminar paper deals with those symbols: it will look at symbols in the awakening of a new Scottish identity, will consider the choice of buildings for a new Parliament and most importantly look at the opening of the Scottish Parliament in 1999 and 2004. The new Scottish Parliament itself is a place of strong symbolic content- the reason why this seminar paper will focus on it as well. Finally the paper will try to give an explanation for the importance and wide use of symbols in the process of Devolution in Scotland, showing how a modern Scottish identity is connected to the points described above.