ABSTRACT
The creation of devolved institutions in Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland has added a new tier of government to the United Kingdom's (UK’s) multilevel polity. Unitary statea culturally and politically homogeneous state in which all parts are governed in the same way from a powerful centre. The rise of substate nationalisms brought fresh academic thinking on the nature of UK territorial politics. Michael Hechter focused on a core-periphery divide in British politics: political and economic elites in the southeast of England exploited resources in the Celtic fringe. The Scottish Office was established as a government department in 1885, the Welsh Office in 1964, and the Northern Ireland Office in 1972. Popular support for nationalist parties increased in Scotland and Wales in the 1960s and 1970s when the UK state and economy were under unprecedented strain. The rise of substate nationalism posed difficult questions for Labour and the Conservatives.
