Lindstrom 1

Connor Lindstrom
Professor Dezzani
GEOG 200-01
1 November 2013
Devolution: Northern Ireland vs. Scotland
The areas of land known as Northern Ireland and Scotland across the North Channel from
each other, however they still represent the same nation. The process of devolution has had its
effects on both of these areas, for they have devolved from the same nation state, being the
United Kingdom. Now they are considered countries, regions, or provinces within the larger
UK. Even though these two countries have devolved together from the United Kingdoms
Parliament, they are having two different issues due to their culture, religion, history, and
geography.
When talking about Northern Ireland, it can become a confusing issue. While Northern
Ireland is a part of the United Kingdom, it is also a part of the island of Ireland. This is because
Northern Ireland is on the island of Ireland, more specifically on the northern part of the island.
This is quite self-explanatory, but the understanding of Northern Ireland is not. Past hardships
involving politics and religion, have caused the devolution of this area that today is called
Northern Ireland. The following map shows how Northern Ireland is a part of the United
Kingdom, but it is still on the island of Ireland.

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For years, and still to this day, the people of Northern Ireland quarrel about what nation
they are really a part of. The main reason for this arguing is all tied together with religion. The
island of Ireland is split between two dominant religions which are protestant and catholic.
(Protestant) unionists remain committed to the maintenance of Northern Irelands place within
the United Kingdom, whilist (catholic) nationalists, although less unanimous in their
consitiutional preferences, broadly aspire to a united Ireland, or greater expressions of their Irish
identity. (Tonge). Since 1920, which was the year Northern Ireland was created, the state has
been through many hardships, most of these consisting of large civil rights protests through the
1960s and 70s. As protests became more violent, the British Government decided in 1972 that
it was time to take over this suffering devolved unionist government.

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Thanks to the Belfast Agreement, or otherwise known as the Good Friday Agreement, the
people of Northern Ireland got out of the
horrific period time, which is considered the
Troubles. The Agreement reached on
Good Friday 1998, often referred to as the
Belfast or Good Friday Agreement,
continues to underpin the Governments
policy in Northern Ireland, and was the
culmination of efforts over many years to move Northern Ireland out of the Troubles period and
to restore devolved government, which had been suspended with the prorogation of the old
Northern Ireland Parliament in 1972. (gov.uk). This powerful agreement was a big step forward
in creating a successful devolved state. When the Good Friday Agreement was established, two
branches of government were created in Northern Ireland. These are the Northern Ireland
Executive and the Northern Ireland Assembly, also known as the legislature.
Both the Assembly and the Executive branches of Northern Ireland Government work
together to solve issues that are known as transferred matters. These transferred matters include
health and social services, education, employment and skills, agriculture, social security,
pensions and child support, housing, economic development, local government, environmental
issues, transport, culture and sport, the Northern Ireland Civil Service equal opportunities, justice
and policing. (gov.uk). Any matters that are UK-wide, such as currency, constitutional rights,
and national security are considered expected matters. These are issues that the Her Majestys
Government is responsible for since they are important to the United Kingdom as a whole.

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Religion is by far the largest mechanism of these long term troubles affecting this area
among Ireland. Both unionism and nationalism in Northern Ireland are tied to religion in some
way or another. While these two groups of people may have ongoing disagreements about
everything from politics to sports, they have learned
to coexist in this thriving area of Northern Ireland.
The industrialization of this chunk of land has made
this part of Ireland more successful than any, for it produces
vast amounts of wealth and prosperity, making it a very
valuable part to the United Kingdoms economy.
Northeast of Northern Ireland, just across the Irish
Sea, lies an area of land known as Scotland. Like
Northern Ireland, Scotland is a state within the nation of the United Kingdom, however Scotland
is much larger than Northern Ireland, and it lies on the island of Britain with the majority of the
UK. Scotland, while it is a devolved area of the United Kingdom, it has different issues than that
of Northern Ireland.
While Northern Ireland is divided between Protestants and Catholics, Scotland devolved
due to other reasons. Starting in the 1960s a large portion of Scottish people started to like the
idea of an independent nation. Support for some measure of Scottish self-government existed
throughout most of the twentieth century, but this support, though widespread, was shallow. This
began to change in the 1960s as Westminster and Whitehall struggled to deal with a variety of
economic and social problems. (Mitchell).
The Scotland Act 1998 (an Act of the UK Parliament) created a Scottish Parliament and
passed to it the powers to make laws on a range of issues. (Scottish Parliament). It wasnt until

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May of 1999 though that the Scottish Parliament went into effect, marking the start of Scotlands
devolved status. Like Northern Ireland, Scotland is only
allowed to act on certain matters within their government.
The matters on which Scotland can make laws on are
referred to as devolved matters, which include;
agriculture, forestry and fisheries, education and training,

Scottish
Parliament

environment, health and social services, housing, law and order (including the licensing of air
weapons), local government, sport and the arts, tourism and economic development, transport
(including drink-driving and speed limits). (Scottish Parliament). For the most part, the same
matters in this area are found in the transferred matters section of Northern Irelands
governmental process, as are reserved matters for the UK, for those will be no different because
Northern Ireland and Scotland are under rule of the same nation.
The main devolutionary mechanisms to Scotland were not religion, but culture and
history. Many Scottish people stand by their rich cultural background in this world, and do not
want the federal government to fool with that. As far as the discipline of sociology is
concerned, Scotland is largely invisible. The two dominant modes for understanding Scotland
have been the historical and the cultural, both focusing on Scotland as pastone problem with
this division of the intellectual map was that culture has seemed cut off from political, economic
and social developments in contemporary Scotland. (McCrone). Scotland is often referred to as
a society rather than a state or a nation. Being Scottish and a part of Scotland is not just a title,
but a way of life.
Scottish people take pride in their heritage, for they have a very rich history. As the rest
of the world moves forward, Scotland is eyeing Nationalism more and more. Nationalism is

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once more on the political agenda in Scotland and elsewhere, because rapid social and economic
change has destablished political conventions. The historic nation-state of the mid-nineteenth
to mid-twentieth century is losing its raison detre: in economic terms, there is a diminishing
correspondence between political and economic systems. (McCrone). The areas of the world
that are prospering today are shying away from centralizing their political decisions around
cultural, and instead are becoming nations full of corporations and organizations. Scotland is
one of the main areas of this modernized world that revolves around sociological problems.
Given that in economic terms, it is locked firmly into an ever-expanding world economy, the
assertion of national identity and cultural distinctiveness comes at a most interesting time in its
history. (McCrone).
Devolution has changed both Northern Ireland, as well as Scotland from what they were
before their devolved states. The devolution of Northern Ireland has been a key ingredient to the
peacekeeping of this nation. The constant protests and arguments that lasted through much of
the late 90s, needed to be stopped if this area of Ireland wanted to see any strides forward.
Being a devolved state has allowed for this part of the United Kingdom to flourish industrially.
At the same time, religious and political disputes are no longer a serious problem. Scotland on
the other hand, was not having major civil disputes and disagreements before it became
devolved. For the most part, Scotland has not become heavily different as a result of devolution.
The Scottish Parliament and the Scottish Executive have proved to be major institutional
innovations, yet the extent to which Scotlands relations with Westminister, both governmental
and non-governmental bodies has changed is perhaps less clear. (Mitchell). Northern Ireland
and Scotland have both been effected by devolution, however Northern Ireland has been effected
on a much larger and more positive scale.

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Religion, culture, and history have had the biggest effects on the devolution of these two
nations, however geography has also played a part in the process. Northern Irelands location on
the island of Ireland created an unstable area that was distant from the rest of the United
Kingdom. This was a big spark to the fire that was known as the Troubles. Scotlands location
may not have been a big contributor to its devolution, but the size of Scotland made it a rich area
for devolution. In conclusion, Northern Ireland and Scotland are great examples of devolved
nations that are successful in their own special ways, as well as positive influences on the rest of
the devolved nations throughout Europe and beyond.

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Work Cited
Mitchell, James. British Politics. New York, New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2003. 161-180.
Print.
McCrone, David. Understanding Scotland. 2nd ed. New York, New York: Routledge, 2001.
31,52,53. Print.
"Devolved and reserved matters explained." The Scottish Parliament . The Scottish Parliament, 8
Novem 2013. Web. 8 Nov 2013.
<http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/visitandlearn/25488.asp&xgt;.
"Devolution settlement: Northern Ireland." GOV.UK. Crown Copyright, 20 Febru 2013. Web. 8
Nov 2013. <https://www.gov.uk/devolution-settlement-northern-ireland>.
Images
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Map_of_Northern_Ireland_within_the_United_Kingdo
m.png
http://www.uk.filo.pl/scotland.htm
http://www.scoilursula.com/26/archives/04-2012/1.html
http://thegardenlobby.com/category/scottish-parliament-elections/