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No clarity on who really runs Scotland — or should
The election did not answer who truly owns and controls the nation on the core questions of its industry, resources and services — and neither will a simple 'in or out' referendum, writes VINCE MILLS
Scottish First Minister and SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon on the steps outside Bute House in Edinburgh after the SNP won a fourth victory in the Scottish Parliament election

WRITING in mid noughties Professor David Miller made the point that “Scotland is governed not simply via the institutions of formal governance… Scotland is also run by political and economic decision-makers, only some of whom are based in Scotland.

“Other centres of decision making are obviously London and Brussels, the Headquarters of the World Trade Organisation, IMF and World Bank and the boardrooms of the transnational corporations, including those which have no interest or base in Scotland (even a negative decision not to site a factory or not to launch a product in Scotland is consequential).”

Arguably a Scottish election of the sort we have just had might have provided an opportunity to explore who owns and runs Scotland and what that ownership means for Scottish society and its industry and services and more importantly still, its democracy.

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