Now, if what I'm about to tell you doesn't mark me as an International Relations/ Political Science junky I don't know what will. So if you are a well informed citizen of the world you will, of course, be aware that Scotland held their long awaited referendum vote to decide whether or not they would continue to be a member of the United Kingdom.
Last year I had the opportunity to research this referendum just a little. I found out that this has pretty much been in the works since Scotland joined the UK a couple of centuries ago. and they've tried a referendum before and rejected independence. The current referendum has been in the works for over 2 years. In the process of doing this research I was asked to give an opinion: Would Scotland choose to break off? or would it stay a part of the UK . . . again. My answer even a year ago was: they'll stay. The poor cat has been beaten till it's dead and now we're still beating the cat, but honestly Scotland probably couldn't have gone it alone, even economically. Let alone that the fact that those who rally behind the yes decision really didn't have a plan for setting up a government, it's almost as if they didn't expect to win. But then again, that's speculation.
So back to why I'm a hardcore IR nerd. So I decided to check at like 9 pm my time if the total votes were tallied, cuz you know this referendum was huge. So I checked and the Scottish deputy first minister made a comment that the final count would be announced at 5 am their time. So I did the natural thing when you don't know exactly how far ahead something is, I pulled up a world clock for Glasgow, Scotland. and I opened CNN and BBC and waited. Watching. My poor roommates got the countdown. 1 hour, 30 minutes, 10 minutes, 5, 30 seconds, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. and of course no announcement on my live feed from Scotland. But I kept checking and watched as each of the little areas votes came in. I watched as 'No' tallies came in from all over Scotland. And my prediction from an entire year ago, was validated. I feel pretty good about life right about now.
At 5:51 am local time deputy first minister Nicola Sturgeon admitted that the referendum had been defeated. And I could finally go to bed knowing the result (which obviously that hasn't happened yet). so in the UK a new day has dawned and they are still together, and according to Alastair Darling they are "better together".
Now comes the struggle, does Parliament give Scotland more autonomy because they stayed? and what does this mean for the rest of the UK that doesn't necessarily identify as English? will they do the same in coming years? It's an interesting topic for debate.
For now, let the world let out the breath it's been holding for 2 years, ever since this referendum was announced. I know I can breathe a little bit better and I've only been researching for a year. Honestly Scotland and the UK have a pretty good little relationship, why separate yourself from that economic and political steadiness and into an upheaval where you have to come up with an entirely different government and a new form of money (because you can't take the pound with you and you're not a member of the EU, so no Euro). They were setting themselves up for more problems that they would solve.
That debate is closed and the Scottish people have spoken. They are okay with being a part of the UK. So everyone take a breather and lets learn from this and move on with life and to the bigger fish we have to fry in the world!
**once again this is an opinion piece. Don't take anything as pure fact BECAUSE IT ISN'T****
Sources:
http://www.bbc.com/news/live/uk-scotland-29130277
and several cnn articles as well . . . .
