by Jason Michael McCann

Twitter @Jeggit

Counterintuitively , new arrivals on the market, be they technologies or innovations, seldom – if ever – manage to capitalise on being the first to hit the shelves. Generally, pioneer consumer products are where all the design faults, glitches, and problems are discovered. It is the second version, usually launched by a competitor, that becomes a market success. Scotland’s independence movement is such a product. Arising out of the politics of a devolved British administration in Edinburgh at a time when independence was very much a minority sport, at the dawn of an international political awakening, when the push for Irish unification was settling into government in Stormont, the independence campaign of 2012-14 captured the attention of Scottish people and created a zeitgeist – the Yes generation.

Later framed by Scottish unionists and the British government as a ‘once in a generation’ referendum, the independence referendum was, to all intents and purposes, a smash-and-grab political manoeuvre designed to boost the profile of the Scottish National Party under Alex Salmond. It is difficult now to say for sure if independence was ever really thought a likely – or even possible – outcome from the point of view of the campaign’s architects. Support for independence in 2012 was languishing in the low twenties. Yet, as the campaign gathered momentum, and as the cultural drive of Yes Scotland tapped into the psyche of a nation sick and tired of London rule, a vibrant, energetic, and highly motivated mass movement sprang into being.