ABSTRACT
The various contributions to this collection ably demonstrate the differences and the similarities in the ways in which community safety has developed throughout Europe. It may be surprising to some to see a separate chapter on Scotland, however. As a constituent part of the United Kingdom it might be expected that developments in Scotland would simply mimic those of its larger, and more thoroughly researched, neighbour. One of the aims of this chapter is to show that such an assumption should be treated with a degree of caution. Despite the fact that formal constitutional arrangements meant that Scotland was governed by a Westminster Parliament following the 1707 Acts of Union, the practice of government was, to an important degree, retained within Scotland. The absence of a Scottish parliament between 1707 and 1999 has thus often masked the fact that Scotland retained a substantial amount of autonomy within the Union, and with this autonomy came the potential that Scotland could, and would, do some things differently from its neighbour.
