While writing my ongoing connections series I’ve come across a problem. Defining what is a country and what is not a country. It’s a choice of politics and history.
At what point do sub national groups need considered? How about areas where there’s disagreement over a nation? Why could it upset them? Let’s explore together.
Background
I started writing my connections series about Greece. It’s a country which has a lot of interesting little cultural and linguistics links, largely one way though because we admired Ancient Greece a lot. While writing it, I got to thinking about other countries and that got me started on this incompleteable series.
See, I followed up with Wales because we were playing them at rugby that week. This introduced some complexity to the definition of what is a country since it is not a nation state. Still, quite distinctive and has a decent amount to do with Scotland.
The issue is this seems like by recognising Wales as a country due a connections article, I might have boxed myself in to needing to recognise other areas for consistency. And this recognition could piss off people, while erasure also annoys folk.
Specific problems in deciding what is a country
Unified Ireland or two Irelands?
For example, I have been writing a connections article on Ireland. There’s lots of connections because out of all the countries in the world, we maybe only share more history and culture with England.
But owing to distinctive religious practises in Northern Ireland, as well as a whole complicated political and economic situation, most of Ireland is a Republic and Northern Ireland is part of the UK. This is a setup which the Scots are heavily involved in, since it was our religion that made a lot of it happen, which makes it important to write about. At the same time, it’s incendiary.
It’s gelignite.
So that could be two articles required right there or it could be one. Thankfully, owing to the Good Friday Agreement plus a couple decades of peace, it’s quite a safe area to write about. But it’ll take a lot of care.
Spain and other Medieval Kingdoms and City-States
No modern nation has been unchanged since the dawn of time. There’s been fluctuations in the power level of leaders, as well as borders moving due to war and diplomacy.
Spain
This presents interesting problems with countries like Spain where there are connections with Scotland, but also significant connections with regions like Catalonia.
Catalonian flags are often flown at Scottish independence marches because the present day significance of both areas having independence movements. Is that worth a full article on Catalonia or would it be better to cover Spain, like their constitution, as a unitary state? That feels a political choice and there’s no very easy answer, though it could be useful.
Italy
Italy is a fascinating country to me because it has so many significant urban spaces. These cities all have their own flags and myths, and if I were to dig I’m sure there’s Scottish connections in every single one.
After all, Scots travel a lot, love hot weather and good wine, go to war frequently, and are very attracted to intellectual hotspots, such as the Italian cities were throughout the Renaissance.
But to reflect the granular nature of one country would kind of require a similar treatment elsewhere.
The world outside Europe
If I decide to write about specific connections with these city-states, Medieval kingdoms, and potential breakaway regions in Europe, wouldn’t I need to do this around the entire world? For instance, when it comes to South Asia (the Indian subcontinent and immediately surrounding nations), there are some incredibly densely populated cities and significant areas where Scots likely were involved due to colonialism.
It feels almost like I’d end up going street by street in certain cities.
African connections to Scotland
Many African states have fascinating interactions with Scotland. Not just from colonialism, which is a factor, but from migration. But the issue is that Africa’s borders fundamentally do not make sense of a lot of tribal differences, ethnicities, or religions.
Representing that feels impossible as there will be Scottish connections with everyone and everywhere.
Overthinking “what is a country”
One of the things I most like about writing is how it forces you to confront things and put your thoughts into perspective. This is why AI writing in education is dreadful, and even for research purposes it’s bad – it limits that fundamental conflict that creates writing.
But that’s a tangent.
I want to rework the question I’m answering. The fundamental question is not “what is a country”. The question is “what is a country for the purposes of my Scottish connections series”.
And the answer to that is simple:
Complicated
Defining what is or it not a country is about as easy as defining what is and is not a language. It’s policing the boundary between sea and land without considering the tide ever blurs the distinction. Any possible definition of country has to come to terms with the fact that countries exist inside different states. They are necessarily divisive because they are about division of land, resource, cultural product.
In coming to this realisation, I can live with the discomfort of the project. It is a difficult task which I’m doing. To explore more of Scotland’s place in the world and history, and everyone else’s connections to Scotland. It is, necessarily, a huge tangled heap.
But it’s better to set out with an idea of how to define a country and for me, it’s “however best it interacts with the story”. I’m a Scottish tour guide and writer, not the unelected ruler of the world, and nobody should hold me to that standard.
If you’d like a part in the project or have ideas for articles, feel free to contact me via Bluesky.
The writer of this piece finds little time to write and less to market his work.
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