Read on Twitter
I know there is a lot on at the moment but @heraldscotland has published my Sunday piece on the politics - National and international - of the SNP’s new defence and foreign affairs doctrine and I think it’s worth a wee thread. https://www.heraldscotland.com/news/18880882.analysis-defence-independent-scotland/?ref=twtrec
Basically in recent years we have seen SNP international stances evolve in to strongly pro EU and pro Nato positions broadly similar to what the party sees as peer nation states like Norway and Denmark.
I guess we all know that but there’s still some anachronistic online and political patter suggesting the snp has some kind of separatist or isolationalist worldview so it’s worth nothing what it’s actual stance has been for a wee while. It’s multilateralist in the broadest sense.
There are still anti nato and anti EU voices in the broader yes movement.
Formally, the SNP has set out what amounts to a foreign doctrine in a submission to the U.K. Govt on Britain’s integrated defence and foreign policy. You can read that here: http://www.stewartmcdonald.scot/news/news/snp-publish-submission-to-uk-government-integrated-review-of-foreign-and-defence-policy/
I think this document amounts to a Swedish-style doctrine of “total defence” - when the security or the state and its people is seen in the widest possible way. Where you need to guard against global warming, pandemics and disinformation as much as against missiles.
Hence some of the first reports on the doctrine suggesting that building a resilient democracy - eg protecting us from disinfo or despots’ bribes - was vital. https://www.heraldscotland.com/news/18864685.snp-cleaning-uk-politics-key-defence-strategy/
My colleague @foreigncorr1 has long argued that any grown-up discussion of independence should get to grips with defence and foreign policy, in detail. https://www.thenational.scot/news/18864619.snp-unveil-defence-blueprint-put-scotland-world-stage/
At the risk of being offensive, I don’t think we have had much of a meaningful debate on this stuff and it has been left to some of the SNP’s people to take the lead.
We had paradiplomatic efforts from the snp to sell its project before and after the first indyref. There are new approaches now. I covered this for @ForeignPolicy. https://foreignpolicy.com/2020/09/21/brexit-break-britain-scotland-independence/
I think it’s fair to say the response ilia not a lot less hostile than it was back in the day. Here is a story from The Herald on France’s concerns in 2013. https://www.heraldscotland.com/politics/13089558.as-others-see-us-the-view-from-france/
The SNP are now hoping to cut off hostility from off stage. They were cheered by the Biden win. https://foreignpolicy.com/2020/11/07/scottish-nationalists-biden-independence/
So the new defence and fording affairs doctrine is described as a nato document by @PhillipsPOBrien. It’s designed to reassure Eu and nato allies that Indy isn’t a security threat.
One intriguing detail. It doesn’t talk much about Trident. The nuclear weapons just aren’t that relevant any more. https://www.heraldscotland.com/news/18880882.analysis-defence-independent-scotland/
Nobody is saying weapons of mass destruction are not a big deal. But more most security issues they are not a meaningful part of defence.
