Nationality

With all the talk of Scottish Independence, I pondered exactly what nationality is. 

I have a passport which declares me to be British. Being British is not really a nationality, but a concept. I certainly don't have a single piece of paper to say I'm English, and nor does anyone who claims to be English.

The English seem to identify slightly more as English than British, as this chart below from 2016 shows - although it may have changed since.

In my case I wasn't born here - I was naturalised - but even my naturalisation papers say I'm British and not English. The same goes for the Scots, Welsh and Northern Irish, I believe - and this may have implications for any Scottish referendum.

How does one claim to be a Scot? Living there, being born there and having parents who were both born there, yea, unto the 20th generation? That would certainly be a valid qualification, despite the admixture of Roman, Saxon, Viking and Norman blood at some stage. 

Talking of the Normans, the freebooters and thugs who comprised the Norman war machine accompanying William the Bastard (or, The Conqueror, to his face) and became our aristocracy, had a habit of becoming more like their conquered than the natives, wherever they went - more Irish than the Irish, more Scots than the Scots, more Welsh than the Welsh, etc, etc, to the extent that they would go to war with the descendants of their ancient compatriots because of an overdeveloped sense of nationalism in their new, adopted home. It's akin to the ex smoker becoming the most ardent anti-smoker.

Perhaps, given 700,000 people were disenfranchised in the Brexit vote by having been absent from the UK for 15 years or more, there should be a cut-off for along those lines too - regardless of where you were born or how you self-identify.

How about using international sports rules - if one of your grandparents was Scots, you can claim Scottishness? I claimed British nationality through having one British (English) parent and coming to live in Britain. 

There seems to be no internationally accepted definition of nationality, other than what it says on one's passport, and I have yet to see a Scottish (or English) passport. Even citizenship is not necessarily accepted as nationality. OK, your British birth certificate and passport shows your place of birth, but not the constituent country - it's inferred by the city or town. 

British passports, in the modern sense, were introduced in 1915. Before this there were few practical restrictions on individuals who wished to travel abroad (provided they could afford to do so). Documents similar to passports were issued by the Scottish crown (prior to the union of crowns in 1603) and by burghs, senior churchmen and noblemen. These were letters of introduction or safe conduct for individuals (mainly aristocrats or their agents) travelling in Europe, sometimes on official business. In general those emigrating permanently before 1915 did not require passports. Henry V apparently created the first English passport and it was written in French. Indeed, the word passport is French.

So who gets to vote in a Scottish referendum on independence? In the last independence referendum, all EU or Commonwealth citizens residing in Scotland age 16 or over could vote, with some exceptions. So by that definition, residency is a requirement - although I can't see EU citizens necessarily getting a vote next time; however, I might be wrong. The SNP would certainly want them to vote.

But what about Scots (whatever that means) residing in other parts of Britain? While the Unionists would naturally want them included, as they would swell the No camp; the SNP would not - they chose to leave Scotland, for whatever reason. Perhaps the 15 year rule from the Brexit vote should be invoked. 

Interestingly, the Islamic view about nationality is wholly different from the western democratic concept. The Muslims' nationality is not based on the unity of geographical, language and material factors. It is based on religion. The Islamic ummah is a party or society which is founded by God and the Prophet, and its membership depends on the unity of belief, world vision and an Islamic system. Islam rejects every territorial and materialistic limitation. This is why the imposition of national boundaries on the remains of the Ottoman Empire after WWI sowed the seeds of many of the Middle East's problems - individual Muslim 'nations', which were based on arbitrary lines drawn by Europeans, can only be held together by secular, military strongmen and dictators, as events have proven. The natural, religious imperative is for a single, Islamic state embracing all Muslims.

Could I self-identify as a Scot?