National sustainabilities in Scotland and Wales

This project aims to assess the strength of the connections between nationalist discourses and discourses of sustainability in Scotland and in Wales and how these connections operate in practice using two contrasting case studies. It tackles head on the potential connections that can exist between nationalism, as one of the most important communities that shapes individual and group identity, and sustainability, arguably, the key discourse that seeks to influence environmental, economic and social futures. Specifically, the project asks whether devolving more power to Scotland and Wales is likely to lead to truly transformative forms of sustainability, not just within their own territorial boundaries, but also as members of the UK, EU and global communities. It tests the assertion made at the outset of devolution: that bringing government closer to the people through devolution is itself a policy for sustainable development (DEFRA, 1999) and subsequent claims that sustainability is best delivered at this sub-state level; with devolved bodies being small enough to facilitate the emergence of common interests yet large enough to have a significant impact on environmental, social, economic and political processes (Porritt, 2009; Ross, 2012). Similarly, do devolved bodies enable environmental organisations to connect more readily with decision-makers so that a transformative form of sustainability can be achieved? Do devolved administrations also possess the appropriate legal and executive competence to actually implement change? The research is, thus, novel as it seeks to address a relative lacuna in studies of the connection between sustainability and the idea of community by focusing on the national scale; specifically the various nationalisms associated with devolved administrations. While there has been some limited interest in examining the connection between discourses of sustainabilty and national discourses and institutions, it is noticeable that it has been characterised by some weaknesses: 1) there has been little effort to synthesise this work into a coherent whole; 2) very little work has sought to examine the conceptual implications of conjoining nationalist discourses with sustainability discourses; 3) the relationship between the nationalist discourses operating within sub-state or devolved contexts and discourses of sustainability has been relatively under-researched and under-theorised. The project addresses these weaknesses through a study of the connections drawn in Scotland and Wales - by governments, their agencies, political parties and environmental NGOs - between nationalist and sustainability discourses. As well as providing a synthetic, critical and theoretically-informed literature review of the connections between nationalist and sustainability discourses, the project will focus on two contrasting pilot policy case studies, which will illustrate the productive and problematic tensions between these two sets of discourses. a) The first case study, centred on the debates surrounding independence for Scotland, will highlight how discourses that are predominantly nationalist in character can key into sustainability discourses. How do these sustainability discourses either help to promote or problematise the nationalist debates? b) The second case study, focusing on the upcoming creation of a Single Environmental Body (SEB) in Wales (incorporating the current Countryside Council for Wales, the Environment Agency Wales and Forestry Commission Wales), takes an alternative tack by examining how discourses that are predominantly centred on the environment and sustainability can connect to nationalist debates? How do nationalist discourses help or hinder the sustainability discourses promoted as part of the creation of the SEB?