Statistical collection and analysis needs to be improved in a devolved UK.  Greater detail of local and regional analysis is required for both Scotland and England.

, we have drawn together leading experts to examine the key issues, opportunities and challenges surrounding the prospect of independence. Much has changed since the 2014 referendum – most notably, the UK’s decision to leave the European Union. By providing factual information and impartial analysis, we hope that the book can support citizens to engage in debates and make up their own minds about Scotland’s future.

There is no question that an independent Scotland could run a sustainable budget. But like the UK, an independent Scotland would face major fiscal challenges both in the short and long run. Based upon the latest data, an independent Scotland is likely to face greater challenges than the UK as a whole (at least in the short-term).

In his article, Klaus Stolz (Chemnitz) focuses on the Scots’ decision in the Brexit referendum on June 23, 2016. For him, the result is not only representative of the relationship between Scotland and Europe, but also of the relationship between Scotland and the rest of Great Britain. That most Scots want to stay in the EU and thus deviate from the majority of the British is what he regards as part of a bigger domestic political division. Klaus Stolz does not consider Brexit as a cause, but as a possible catalyst for the disintegration of Great Britain.

This  chapter makes use of the lenses of citizenship to explore the interaction between the two dimensions of ‘troubled membership’. It locates legal change in its broader political context and focuses on contested boundaries of polity membership. This explores the content of a possible future Scottish citizenship, and examines the formal legal membership and political citizenship in respect of both the Scottish referendum and the UK’s referendum on EU membership.

The UK is the rare country that acknowledges the possibility of its own division. Great Britain's acquiescence  made Scottish secession possible.  The pathways of Scottish secession have been an insular affair, a function of particularly British law and politics, in which international law played little role. 

This paper discusses Scotland’s relationship with the EU in the context of two different secession events. The first concerns the question of an independent Scotland’s EU membership in the event of Scotland’s secession from the UK. The second discusses the position of Scotland in the context of a UK in-out referendum on EU membership. This chapter concludes that in neither case should Scotland be forced to leave the EU against its will.

This report gives the current state of climate change at 2012, the possible climate futures, risk assessments for regions of the world, and the actions required to limit future climate change.

The right of the people of Scotland to determine the form of government best suited to their needs has been consistently accepted for decades across the political spectrum, and is powerfully demonstrated by Scotland's recent history.

Through a qualitative analysis of images shared on the platform Instagram, we demonstrate that the Scottish electorate did indeed used image-sharing for political self-expression -- posting a variety of visual content, representative of a diversity of political opinion. We conclude that users utilised Instagram as a platform to craft and present their "political selves".