'Unfinished Business': The Land Question and the Scottish Parliament

Understanding the materialities and moralities of property: reworking collective claims to land

“…Scotland has a traumatic history of enclosure, epitomised by the mass appropriation and dispossession of the Highland Clearances (Devine 1994), which is still manifest in minds and material opportunities of many people today (Cameron 2001). The challenge of sustaining viable local communities is thought to have been compounded by the persistence of feudal patterns of landownership, whereby large tracts of land are owned by a small minority for status and sporting amenity (Hunter 1976).…”

Reconciling moral and legal collective entitlement: Implications for community-based land reform

“…Formal political interest in land reform in Scotland has fluctuated over the years, but the 'land question' has remained an important one for Scottish history and culture due to the Highland clearances and the enduring antilandlordism from these, and subsequent, injustices (Cameron, 2001). Land reform made its way onto the political agenda in the 19th and early 20th centuries with the passing of key crofting legislation between 1886 and 1919.…”

“…to cover sporting rights), but also in distribution, beyond the current set of crofting tenants to include the wider 'community'. 2 Providing for non-crofters to play a significant role in the constitution of a 'crofting community' has been flagged as particularly controversial by a number of commentators (Chenevix-Trench and Philip, 2001;Cameron, 2001;Macmillan et al, 2002). As crofting areas become transformed and increasingly diverse as part of larger trends of migration and rapid economic change, assumptions of for what and for whom croft land should be used, are called into question (Brown, 2006).…”

“…The emphasis on 'crofting community' in the LRSA 2003 raises concerns about how the concept is to be defined and operationalised (Cameron, 2001;Rohde, 2004;Mackenzie, 2004). Bryden and Geisler (in press) highlight that tensions can stem from 'community' as place-based, and 'community' as functional (i.e.…”

Current Scottish Land Reform and Reclaiming the Commons: Building Community Resilience

“…By way of further introduction, it should be noted that Scotland's 'land question' is itself a complex interplay of land agitation histories, economic power struggles, political discourses and cultural accounts (Cameron, 1996(Cameron, , 2001(Cameron, , 2010(Cameron, , 2013Howell, 2013;Hunter, 1986Hunter, , 2014Mcewen, 1981;Young, 1975). It is a debate subject to varying phases of controversy, policy and wider public interest (Brooks, 2016;Brown, 2008;Burnett, 2014;Judah, 2015;McFadyen, 2019;McKenna, 2013;Monbiot, 2014;Nicholson, 2003;Philips, 2018).…”