{"id":220,"date":"2013-02-20T09:00:10","date_gmt":"2013-02-20T09:00:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.sps.ed.ac.uk\/referendum\/?p=220"},"modified":"2013-02-28T10:45:10","modified_gmt":"2013-02-28T10:45:10","slug":"event-scff-are-we-in-the-right-process","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.sps.ed.ac.uk\/referendum\/event-scff-are-we-in-the-right-process\/","title":{"rendered":"Event: SCFF: Are We in the Right Process?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"SCCF\"<\/a>The current process towards a referendum contemplates a referendum campaign and referendum on independence, which if successful would trigger negotiations on independence, and the need for a new Scottish Constitution. Referendum first, constitution-making second. It appears to be largely assumed that Scotland\u2019s constitutional future is largely settled by the label \u2018independence\u2019, when in fact some type of new constitution would need to be designed. While the referendum process has been the subject of much debate, the question of Scotland\u2019s post-referendum constitutional process \u2018after the fact\u2019 has been much less discussed.<\/p>\n

Interestingly, the key difficulty with fashioning a \u2018third question\u2019 in the referendum, dealing with some half-way or hybrid between independence and the status quo, is currently alleged to be the fact that this option lacks clear or comprehensive definition. Arguably, a part of the difficulty is that any such definition would require some sort of prior substantive and inclusive process focused on fashioning a constitutional status around substantive constitutional goods and powers, rather than choosing the status first, and finding the constitutional goods and powers to fit the status.<\/p>\n

This seminar focuses on constitutional processes, attempting to locate Scotland\u2019s current process within models of constitutional change globally. We also use the seminar to \u2018re-imagine\u2019 a process in which form would follow substance, rather than substance being assumed to follow form. While both Scottish and UK government appear committed to the current process, this seminar asks: is there another way and what would it look like? This is not an exercise in wishful thinking. By asking the question of \u2018is this the right process?\u2019 we examine what the current independence referendum process enables in terms of constitutional change, but also what it disables.<\/p>\n