Nationalism and the energy transition: The case of the SNP

While fossil fuels are a well-researched element of nationalist discourse, the relationship between nationalism and renewable energy has not yet been adequately explored. We address this gap by investigating the impact of the energy transition on the Scottish National Party's (SNP) discourse between 1983 and 2021. Through an analysis of SNP manifestos and speeches, we discursively trace the evolution of three pertinent amalgams of nationalism-green nationalism, resource nationalism and techno-nationalism-revealing renewable energy to have been co-opted and deployed in all three. Rather than the energy transition intuitively resulting in the decline of fossil fuel-based nationalisms in favour of those rooted in an emergent renewable energy paradigm, we find that adaptations in the SNP's discursive strategies allowed the former to co-exist with the latter, enhancing complementarity and mitigating goal conflicts.

Automated summary

This study investigates the impact of energy transition on nationalism by analyzing the discourse of the Scottish National Party. It reveals that renewable energy has been integrated into different forms of nationalism and coexists with fossil fuel-based nationalisms. The findings suggest that adaptations in discourse strategies allow for complementarity and mitigate goal conflicts between the two.