Empire, federalism and civil society : liberal nationalists in Scotland and Québec

This thesis seeks to relate the forms of liberal nationalism, which emerged in Scotland and Quebec between 1899 and 1914, to the character of the institutions which governed. The substantive focus is on two liberal nationalist groupings: the Young Scots' Society and the more loosely grouped Ligue nationaliste canadienne. Their emergence is examined at three levels: imperial, federal and local civil society.The British Empire exerted an overarching influence on both Scotland and Quebec. Yet each enjoyed a very different relationship to the empire. Liberal nationalists responded differently to the same policies---the South African War, Tariff Reform and the Naval Question. The Young Scots invoked Liberal principles: freedom of speech, free trade and disarmament. The Nationalistes' response was nationalist: these were encroachments on Canadian sovereignty. Yet both groupings shared a liberal conception of empire, characterised by autonomy and decentralisation.Scotland and Quebec enjoyed a 'federal' relationship to their states (Britain/Canada). Deficiencies in these systems prompted different responses. The Young Scots campaigned in support of a Scottish Home Rule Parliament. The Nationalistes favoured a Canadian federation which was avowedly consociational, one which recognised Canadian duality. These were liberal measures of accommodating difference.Finally, Scotland and Quebec possessed distinctive civil societies. Yet they differed in the degree to which they were governed by liberal norms. In Scotland a liberal ethos was sustained by both the dominant Liberalism and Presbyterianism. However in Quebec the dominant Catholic church sought to preserve its hegemony over francophone society against Liberal challenges. Liberal nationalists not only reflected the distinct national character of their civil societies but also the degree to which those societies were governed by liberal norms.It was these configurations of institutions and norms which ensured that the nationalisms which emerged in Scotland and Quebec were liberal in character. Yet there were important differences: greater emphasis was placed on Liberalism in Scotland ("Liberal nationalists") while the emphasis was on Nationalism in Quebec ("liberal Nationalists"). The character of empire, federalism and civil society in Scotland and Quebec shaped the nationalisms that emerged between the Boer War and the First World War