The purpose of my proposed research is to bring together two passions - theology, in particular the theological anthropology of Bernard Lonergan, and politics - and to do so in a way that is both useful and relevant as we approach the 25th anniversary of the Scottish Parliament in 2024 and look back critically on the promise of devolution and what has in fact been achieved.
In addition, my aim is to also contribute to changing the way we do political discourse in Scotland, drawing on twenty years of experience as a political practitioner and seeking to add new insights from a field, theology, that has much to contribute (even if many in the world of politics would reject or challenge that claim).
Since first discovering the writings of Lonergan five years ago, I have been struck by their power and ability to speak directly to real-world situations. In particular, Lonergan's grounding of objective truth in authentic subjectivity, and his work on the elements that lead to societal progress or decline, will provide the theoretical framework for the research. I am interested in exploring whether we are doing our politics in a way that encourages progress or decline and, if decline, would then seek to offer theoretical and practical answers to a second question, what opportunities are there, then, to do things better?
At the heart of Lonergan's thinking is the idea that new questions lead to new insights which, in turn, can bring us to a higher viewpoint. A political process that sees difference necessarily as division, with a them/us, either/or mindset that has the negation of the other (winner takes all) as the primary goal, is less likely to generate the necessary questions and insights to open up new and broader horizons. The politics of either/or is, on this argument, more likely to be the politics of decline. It is also a politics that runs counter to the supposed founding principles of the Scottish Parliament - a parliament that was meant to break from the binary, confrontational approach of Westminster. Doing difference differently was meant to be part of the Scottish Parliament's DNA.
Part of this research will be an attempt to gather together the experience of former colleagues and opponents who have worked in government, parliament and politics during the different stages of devolution - I hope they will be willing to speak to me and, perhaps also, agree to our conversations being recorded and published. From the data collected from these interviews, and using Lonergan as the theoretical frame, I will seek to draw conclusions about how much devolution has delivered on “the promise of a new political culture”, and what might change if Scotland developed a political discourse where we are striving to always be more attentive, intelligent, reasonable and responsible and, if I can begin to bring in the theology, are also conscious that even those we disagree with are our neighbours, and worthy of compassion, respect and, dare I say it, also love.
It is very much practical theology, with a core aim of the research being to positively influence political practitioners and, in doing so, hopefully also change the way they politically engage - in particular with an eye to the ongoing independence debate. I hope it can be a small contribution towards supporting the sort of political culture that devolution promised.