The question of what it means to be an independent country has been a fraught one for a long time, not just for the Scottish independence movement but for secessionist movements across the liberal democratic West, and even for many already independent, internationally recognised states. It is a question that grows more tricky as states become more interdependent, and takes on a renewed importance as the security environment deteriorates.

In the Scottish case, many republican independence supporters will not consider the job done until an independent Scotland’s ties to the British monarchy are severed. Whether an independent Scotland should have a monetary union with the rest of the UK, or even join the Eurozone, is its own esoteric debate. The question of economic and political union with the EU divides the independence movement.

The clearest evidence that the question of what sovereignty means is not just a theoretical one, but one of political importance in Scotland came after the 2016 EU membership referendum. Look at the headline support for Scottish independence since then and little appears to have changed. But under the surface, a realignment took place.

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As the Scottish Election Study’s analyses have demonstrated, between the 2016 referendum and the 2019 general election just two-fifths of independence supporters who voted Leave still supported both positions. The rest split evenly between switching to backing remaining in the EU while still supporting independence, and switching to backing remaining in the Union while still supporting leaving the EU.

At the same time, around a quarter of those who had supported remaining in both the UK and the EU switched to supporting Scottish independence while remaining in the EU.........

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