ABSTRACT
Despite the overwhelming failure of the devolution referendum in 1979 the territorial management of Wales continued to pose problems for the British state. The political legitimacy of subsequent Conservative governments' mandate in Wales was called into question and by the early 1990s support for devolution had grown. In response, the Labour Party in opposition under Tony Blair saw fit to resurrect its commitment to introduce legislation setting up a devolved Welsh assembly in Cardiff, subject to the attainment of a simple majority in a pre-legislative referendum. These developments raised two key questions: why did the devolution debate resurface again in the early to mid 1990s; and how did its origins and general perception of its likely outcome compare with the 1970s? In this chapter it is argued that the revival of the devolution debate was a result of the changing face of Welsh politics during the 1980s and 1990s. Such changes focused not so much on developments in nationalism, as was often held to be the case in the 1970s, as developments in Wales' economic base, changes to the administrative structure, the difficulties of territorial management by a parliamentary state with an asymmetrical party system, and the growing importance of the European connection. The chapter examines each of these developments in turn and then addresses directly the nature of the revived devolution debate in Wales. Overall, the chapter suggests that the pressures in favour of reform in the early to mid 1990s were both different to, and more substantial than, those in the 1970s. First, however, we need to understand the nature of Welsh nationalism, and the marginal influence of separatist politics in the 1990s.
