Time, Action and the Scottish Independence Referendum

This book describes the Scottish independence referendum as the latest incarnation of a contest between two times – on one hand, an ideally continuous time beyond determination underpinning financial sovereignty, on the other the interruptions to this ideal continuity inherent in human action. Pointing to a number of linked historical frameworks, the question of self-determination is described as fissures in the empty time of the sovereign economy, and questions asked of a British left who despite this keep returning to a ‘zombie state’. The book goes to the ‘natural and eternal’ principles of state and traces them through consensus to show the tightening of the constitution against popular determination, but shows how loyalty to a financial ’empty time’ is shown to be in chronic decline.

Reviews of Time, Action and the Scottish Independence Referendum

"There have been diaries and accounts of the referendum movement but none that give the depth of analysis that Michael Gardiner brings to the table. Britain as the Undead state, re-telling the movement as part of a narrative of British reform – and trying to capture the idea of self-determination, thereby cancelling both past and future for Scotland. It's a captivating insightful analysis of what we've just lived through. Essential reading." – Mike Small, editor of Bella Caledonia "Gardiner is perhaps the expert in analysing Scoto-British politics from a culturalist angle. In Britain Undead he argues that the populist movement for Scottish democracy, reignited during debates leading up to the 2014 independence referendum, has awoken and radically challenged the centuries-old constitutional reaction at the heart of the neoliberal Anglo-British state." – Dr Scott Lyall, Edinburgh Napier University, UK