Dr Sarah Nason
31/01/2022
Putney Debates 2021: The Unity of a Nation
Previous
Next
For Putney Debates 2021, we organised two online panel sessions on 8 December 2021. The first panel discussed the models of national unity, including the United States, the United Kingdom, China, Spain and Italy. The second panel concentrated on the unity of the UK, and panellists debated the issue from different perspectives – the UK as a whole, England, Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales.
Putney Debates 2021 lectures
Chosen top experts from around the world delivered a course of lectures on the constitutional structure of a selection of nations (China, Italy, Spain, the United Kingdom and the United States). Each lecture shows how unity is achieved, assesses its relative success, and discusses any problems with the present form of unity and the reasons behind them.
About Putney Debates 2021
The Putney Debates constitute an annual forum for discussion of a constitutional matter in a form accessible to the people.
Context of Putney Debates 2021:
To unite a group of regions to create a nation is a daunting task under any circumstances. It becomes more difficult when regional identity has a long history, often associated with independence and ethnicity, language and religion. The United Kingdom is an old union of four proud, distinct, and very different parts and peoples. After Brexit, its unity is under strain and the future is precarious; loyalty and support for the constitutional structure is on the wane.
Purposes of Putney Debates 2021:
- to construct models of unity from the experience of a selection of nations;
- to analyse the case of the United Kingdom, identify the points of tension and instability; and
- to draw on the models of unity to propose an approach suited to the United Kingdom.
Relevant publications
