Collection on the Study of Government in Scotland
- Reference:GB 237 Coll-1076
- Dates of Creation:1930-1980
- Language of Material:English
- Physical Description:8 boxes
Scope and Content
Collection composed of: circa 200 separate copies of reports of investigation into complaints against the various Scottish local government councils, regional and district, carried out by the Commissioner for Local Administration in Scotland, mainly 1970s; various planning documents, reports and news-sheets, including those on transport, community land schemes, Clyde recreation, crime, community councils, school and college councils, regional councils, housing, special housing, role of district councils, and re-organisation of the National Health Service in Scotland, mostly from the 1970s; earlier digests and reports including a 1953 Digest of Scottish Statistics, a 1948 report from the North of Scotland hydro Electric Board, material relating to the 1979 referendum on devolution for Scotland, Scottish National Party (SNP) promotional ephemera, copies of local financial returns from the 1930s through to the 1950s and beyond; publications and election ephemera of the SNP including several numbers of theScots independentfrom the 1930s, andScottish news and commentfrom the 1940s, and several pamphlets published by the SNP in the 1940s and 1950s on Scotland's relationship with the rest of the UK; circa 50 pamphlets and booklets by various Scottish publishers on Scottish themes, notably Scotland's relationship with the rest of the UK, 1940s and 1950s and some later; SNP policy documents and reports on the subject of devolution and Scottish independence; and, reports, letters, news-sheets, press releases and other documents issued by various agencies, bodies, associations and councils on their views and attitudes towards Scottish devolution, 1979.
Administrative / Biographical History
The Unit for the Study of Government in Scotland, now subsumed by the Institute of Governance, was acknowledged as the leading centre in the country for studies of Scottish society and politics. At the centre of the Unit's work was the study of policy-making and the political process in Scotland, set in a broad comparative and international context. Constitutional change in Scotland had been one of the Unit's central themes since its founding in the mid-1970s for which it drew on diverse disciplines, notably in Law and Social Sciences. It conducted The Scottish Election Study, which provided an in-depth account of how and why Scotland voted at the 1997 General Election, especially in the context of long-term changes in electoral attitudes and behaviour. A similar study had focused on the Scottish Referendum in September 1997.
The Unit was followed by the Governance of Scotland Forum in 1998, and then by the Institute of Governance in 2002
A number of publications had emanated from the Unit throughout the 1980s and 1990s on a variety of issues, including pieces on the re-organisation of Scottish local government, management of councils, financing Scottish home rule, gender and Scottish society, labour market policy in Britain, citizenship, Scottish churches and the political process, women in Scottish politics, data protection and privacy, and democratic participation in the Scottish Parliament.
Access Information
Access should be unrestricted but please check in advance of any consultation.
Acquisition Information
Accession E.2006.02
Subjects
Corporate Names