ABSTRACT
The longevity of the UK as a stable geo-political entity is perhaps more surprising than we think. If it were being designed afresh the UK would not be a particularly auspicious proposition, with its three-and-a-half nations, multiple religions, plethora of languages, two legal systems, and the whole concoction governed by a highly centralised government in London, a city based in the far South of the largest nation. That the UK – or the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland to be precise – has preserved its territorial integrity since the Irish Free State was established in 1921 is therefore more remarkable than it seems.The fact that this territorial integrity is so often taken for granted, that it should even appear ‘natural’ to so many British people, speaks volumes for what has been achieved. It could easily have been so different. Indeed, many multi-national states around the world have imploded through economic decline or internecine civil war. In the course of the twentieth century the UK survived a whole series of potentially fatal crises, including two world wars, the inter-war Depression, relative economic decline, and the accelerated closure of coal mines and steel mills which were once considered the lifeblood of Scotland,Wales and the North of England.With the luxury of hindsight, however, we can say that some things clearly work better in practice than in theory (Morgan and Mungham 2000).
