Does History Matter? Political Scientists, Welsh and Scottish Devolution

A review essay on books by (1) Bridget Taylor & Katrina Thomson (Eds), Scotland and Wales: Nations Again? (Gwasg Prifysgol Cymru: U Wales Press, 1999); (2) Barry Jones & Denis Balsom, The Road to the National Assembly of Wales (Cwasg Prifysgol Cymru: U Wales Press, 2000); & (3) David Denver, James Mitchell, Charles Pattie, & Hugh Bochel, Scotland Decides: The Devolution Issue and the Scottish Referendum (Frank Cass, 2000). The commentator explores the disciplinary issue of whether contemporary events are the proper province of political scientists or historians. The Taylor & Thomson collection largely relies on obvious inferences about national identity drawn from statistical analyses, with often glaring omissions of contemporary events. The Jones & Balsom anthology, especially in its consideration of Scottish & Welsh popular media, is broader & more reflective, attentive to human realities rather than simply statistical indicators. Denver et al also address the role of the media; as a collaborative effort rather than an anthology, it is more cohesive than the other two collections. Denver et al, drawing on personal accounts by citizen respondents, also reflects on the significance of memory & tradition for Scots reacting to the negative effects of Thatcherism. Yet none of the three books causes the reviewer to retract his skepticism about the suitability of empirical political science methodology for consideration of historical process. K. Coddon