Scottish National Party Leaders

Description

The story of the Scottish National Party is a dramatic one. It has changed Scotland and Britain and in the process has been changed itself. The party survived against all the odds, and for decades had to endure irrelevance in electoral terms. From the 1960s onwards, it emerged as a serious force challenging the mainstream Westminster parties. Finally, from the establishment of the Scottish Parliament, the SNP has transformed into an effective opposition and become what it is today - a serious party of government. This varied and diverse history has led to the culture and style of party leadership looking very different across the eighty years of the party's existence. This collection will examine all of the SNP's formal leaders, along with a number of the most important and defining figures who contributed to shaping and influencing the party. Scottish National Party Leaders is the first ever analysis of the senior figures who made the SNP into the phenomenon it is today, and who have contributed to changing the face of Scottish and British politics.

James Mitchell is Professor of Public Policy and director of the Academy of Government at Edinburgh University, having previously held similar posts at Sheffield and Strathclyde Universities. His works include The Scottish National Party: Transition to Power (with Rob Johns and Lynn Bennie), The Scottish Question and Takeover: Explaining the Extraordinary Rise of the SNP (with Rob Johns).; Gerry Hassan is a writer and commentator. His PhD was on the Scottish political commentariat and its relationship with the public sphere. He is the author and editor of over twenty books on Scottish and British politics, social change, policy and ideas. These include The Strange Death of Labour Scotland (with Eric Shaw), Caledonian Dreaming: The Quest for a Different Scotland and Independence of the Scottish Mind: Elite Narratives, Public Spaces and the Making of a Modern Nation.

"A powerful, persuasive and long overdue account of the personalities who have shaped and sustained modern Scottish nationalism since its foundations a century ago." - Ian Jack, writer and journalist; "This book provides a fascinating backdrop to the interesting political times Scotland now faces and the characters that lived the dream that has never died." - Kenny MacAskill, former SNP minister and former MSP; "A fascinating journey through eighty years of Scottish political history, full of insights and lessons for us all. Scholarly and thorough, but also creditably human." - John Harris, The Guardian; "Each of the men and women who guided the SNP, as diverse in temperament as the talents of the authors who bring them to life in this remarkable book, made decisions which still mark the party. Their life sketches, and those of a score of others, make this book an absorbing argument for how human agency, with spoonfuls of sheer luck, can construct political triumph." - Neal Ascherson, author of Stone Voices: The Search for Scotland