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Do stateless-nationalist-regionalist-parties differ from other party types? Comparing organisational reform processes in Plaid Cymru and the Scottish national party

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Abstract

There has been a tendency to treat Stateless-Nationalist-Regionalist Parties (SNRPs) as special cases when compared with other party types. With the spread of sub-state governmental institutions across Europe, recent literature on SNRPs has started to look at these parties from an institutional perspective compared with more traditional approaches. Despite a vast amount of literature covering party organisation, the way in which SNRPs reform their party organisation and how sub-state institutions shape that organisational reform has been given little attention. This article aims to partially address this gap by analysing the organisational reform processes of two SNRPs, Plaid Cymru and the Scottish National Party. The article argues that these two particular parties are indeed very similar to other party types in this regard, albeit in the context of party specific contexts. The article draws on a number of interviews conducted with elites from both parties, as well as a range of relevant documentary sources.

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Notes

  1. The term SNRP is the one used by Hepburn (2009) because it is deemed to encompass all parties otherwise known as ‘nationalist’, ‘regionalist’ or ‘autonomist’. The term is the most frequently used in the most recent literature looking at this party type.

  2. Although Plaid Cymru suffered electorally after being in government, they achieved a lot in terms of policy. The most important of these was getting a referendum on law-making powers for the NAW. Other notable achievements were the passing of the Welsh Language Measure and the setting up of an independent commission to look at the future of Welsh devolution. There were other policy achievements in housing and economic development, to name but a few, but the ones listed above were the most important for Plaid Cymru as they related directly to their primary goals as a party.

  3. Treeware is the software that Plaid Cymru to input its canvassing returns. The SNP’s equivalent is called Activate.

  4. The result of the vote was 426–332 in favour of overturning the SNP’s opposition to Scotland becoming a member of NATO on independence.

  5. A number of AMs were sceptical of governmental participation at the outset, but came to be persuaded of its value throughout the period of the One Wales Government (see McAngus, 2013).

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  1. Perth College, University of the Highlands and Islands, Perth, PH1 2NX, UK

    Craig McAngus

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McAngus, C. Do stateless-nationalist-regionalist-parties differ from other party types? Comparing organisational reform processes in Plaid Cymru and the Scottish national party. Br Polit 12, 20–41 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1057/bp.2015.45

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