Taking the 2014 Scottish independence referendum as its case study, this book examines popular participation and elite interventions in democratic, plebiscitary events. It addresses how the referendum was constructed, represented, and performed as a participatory moment in media and political discourses and asks how elite representations overlap or contrast with referendum experiences of the public. Drawing on and appealing to media studies, cultural theory, political science and history, this is the first study to use a truly interdisciplinary range of methods to examine a key moment of political participation. It does this through a unique primary dataset, including interviews, focus groups, newspapers, literature, and social media data. This book will appeal to scholars, students, and observers of political participation, secessionist movements, political media, and those interested in Scottish independence and British politics by shedding new light on the referendum’s participatory legacy and hurdles that stop contemporary politics from being inclusive.
