Rozważania nad szkockim kontekstem upadku brytyjskiego imperium. Między wewnętrznym a zewnętrznym kolonializmem
Reflections on the Scottish context of the end of the British Empire. Between internal and external colonialism

Summary/Abstract: This article aims to analyze the relation between British imperialism and the Scottish question. In the first place, the role played by Scots as a nation in the creation of the empire is described, including different frameworks, i.e. internal colonialism. Secondly, the hypothesis of the indissoluble connection of institutions of the British Empire and the United Kingdom (UK) is verified. The collapse of the British Empire had to undermine the sense of the existence of the UK. In the opinion of the author of this article a significant relation between the two phenomena can be observed, although he stipulates that it had a non-obvious form, and the occurrence of the consequences was not a "historic necessity", but had been reinforced by a number of other reasons, of perhaps greater importance, as e.g. the failure of the Thatcher government, the weakness of the unionist parties in Scotland and the social and economic transformations. The Empire was perhaps the most apparent symbol of the unity of the UK and a focus of the British loyalty. And most importantly - the Empire strengthened the sense of the Scottish identity, allowing to assign to it the attribute uniqueness and introducing it into a modern frame. It is worth mentioning that the causal description may not be the right perspective here, thinking in terms of the system would be more valuable - every relationship and every variable, which is commonly referred to as being an effect or a cause, in fact, is both: cause and effect, as the relations are never one-way.

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