The first session of Putney Debates 2021 discussed the models of national unity, including the United States, the United Kingdom, China, Spain, and Italy.

Professor Sionaidh Douglas-Scott’s lecture considers the unity and disunity of the UK. It discusses the diverse histories of the four nations of the UK and what it means to characterize the UK as a ‘union’ rather than a ‘unitary’ State.

Spain has suffered in the last two decades a very high separation tension. In this lecture, professor Roberto Galán-Vioque explains what happened in Spain and what caused its separatist tensions.

In this lecture, professor Francesco Bilancia discusses the constitutional contemporary architecture of the Italian State-regions relations as implemented by the 1999 constitutional reform.