David Torrance reassesses the relationship between 'nationalism' and 'unionism' in Scottish politics, challenging a binary reading of the two ideologies with the concept of 'nationalist unionism'. Scottish nationalism did not begin with the SNP in 1934, nor was it confined to political parties that desired independent statehood. Rather, it was more dispersed, with the Liberal, Conservative and Labour parties all attempting to harness Scottish national identity and nationalism between 1884 and 2014, often with the paradoxical goal of strengthening rather than ending the Union. The book combines nationalist theory with empirical historical and archival research to argue that these conceptions of Scottish nationhood had much more in common with each other than is commonly accepted.

The book is an obvious good starting point for anyone seeking to understand the historical background to debates on the party political dimension of the Scottish Question. It provides an important corrective to much ill-informed and over-heated rhetoric of debates today. And it is very well written. -- James Mitchell, University of Edinburgh * Journal of Scottish Historical Studies *
Standing up for Scotland is a thoughtful study of Scottish unionism since the late nineteenth century [...] Torrance has made a timely and relevant contribution to the literature of both Scottish unionism and nationalism. It is to be hoped that his recognition of the intertwining of these two ideologies is taken up in future work. -- Daniel Leaver, University of St Andrews * Scottish Historical Review *

David Torrance is a constitutional specialist at the House of Commons Library. He is also the author or editor of more than 20 books on Scottish politics, history and biography, including five with EUP. He completed a PhD in history and political science at the University of the West of Scotland in 2017. His most recent book was The Wild Men: The Remarkable Story of Britain’s First Labour Government (Bloomsbury Continuum, 2024).