National Identity and Institutional Politics: Welsh Devolution 1885-2001

Duncan Tanner, Andrew Edwards, Wil Griffith, Chris Williams and Matthew Cragoe

This project is funded by the Economic and Social Research Council as part of its Devolution & Constitutional Change research programme.

Devolution & Constitutional Change

In Brief

This project is a study of political and cultural influences on the devolution process in Wales and is concerned with both civic and cultural forms of national identity.

Context

It is often incorrectly assumed that the process of Welsh devolution is well understood and (compared to the Scottish example) of limited significance. In fact, there are no substantial studies that combine a full historical approach to national identity with an appreciation of recent political events. Recent works naturally focus on the 1997 referendum and on electoral and constitutional changes. Those who try to examine changes since 1979 are hampered by the absence of historical research on recent Welsh history. Accounts of the devolution process, generally by insiders, have dealt almost uniquely with the world since 1992 or even 1997. History and political science, archives and numbers, the world before 1979 and the world since Blair, have become the preserve of separate groups. A proper understanding of longer-term processes, and of the relationship between cultural changes and political actions, has been the most significant casualty of this separation.

Objectives

This project seeks to link up different strands of research to build a historically informed understanding of contemporary developments in Welsh devolution. It will:

  • Complement a tradition of work on civic national identity in Wales by examining how an 'ethnic' conception of Welsh identity became 'constructed' and institutionalised within Welsh public life after 1918
  • Examine how the shifting nature of Welsh civic and cultural identities explain changes in popular and political attitudes to devolution from 1979-97, showing in particular how language ceased to be such a devisive issue
  • Explore changing understandings of British unionism in Wales, not least by paying central attention to the strength of Conservative support in Wales
  • Build more nuanced explanations of why devolution was rejected in the 1979 referendum and accepted (just) in 1997

Research Plan

Much of the material for the project is to be derived from archival sources. The archival material is very extensive and will include the archives of the Welsh Labour, Liberal and Conservative parties, all held at the National Library of Wales, along with papers from a number of prominent figures in the Labour Party. Scarcely any of these have been utilized by scholars. It will also examine the Plaid Cymru archive. The project will also employ questionnaire and interview research, the latter adding to an existing collection of over 300 taped interviews many with key political figures.

Devolution & Constitutional Change
An ESRC Research Programme
E.S.R.C. Economic & Social Research Council