Discover the story of Scottish Studies at Edinburgh University Press – the first publications, the books that changed the field and what you can expect to see in future
By Keith Shaw Tucked away towards the end of the recent document announcing the ‘Devolution Deal’ between the Treasury and the seven local councils in the North East of England, is a commitment to working in collaboration with Scotland to…
By Asher Jiang The concept of physical power in its modern forms has been introduced by Sir Isaac Newton in his great work Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica. Although Newton has embedded this concept into a precise mathematical framework, the power…
By Giovanni Gellera Until recently, the question ‘What was philosophy like in Scotland before the Enlightenment?’ met a standard answer reminiscent of the famous Augustinian warning to those who dared to ask what was there before the beginning of time:…
How are we to assess the impact of activities (e.g. words, songs or gestures) associated with sectarianism in contemporary Scotland? In the increasing absence of easily attributable effects such as crimes or disorder, or blatant forms of discrimination in the…
In the August 2015 issue of Scottish Affairs, a team of researchers explore the findings of a study they carried out for the Scottish government on community experiences of sectarianism. Here, one of the authors, Kay Goodall, sets out some…
Three years ago, Gerry Hassan and I published a book entitled ‘The Strange Death of Labour Scotland’. We envisaged that, unless radical steps were taken, Labour’s influence in Scotland would steadily decline. Speaking personally, I did not envisage a total…
In our featured article this week, “The Absence of God and Its Contextual Significance for Hume”, David Fergusson of the University of Edinburgh sets Hume’s thoroughgoing religious scepticism within the context of the Scottish Enlightenment. Much of Hume scholarship today…
Scottish Affairs is published quarterly in February, May, August and November of each year. Founded in 1992, it is Scotland’s longest running journal on contemporary political and social issues. Fully peer-reviewed, Scottish Affairs provides the opportunity for analysis of Scottish…
Throughout 2014 we published a number of articles about the then impeding referendum on Scottish Independence in our journal Scottish Affairs. As we move towards a general election, the research and data contained within these articles hold as true now…