The debate over whether the Scottish region of Great
Britain should secede from the UK extends beyond whatever provincial interests
unite and divide the state’s regions; it "is also part of a larger
question that extends well beyond Britain, to Texas and Colorado, for example,
and elsewhere: What are the benefits and drawbacks of larger, politically
diverse countries, compared with smaller, more homogeneous ones?"[1]
Yet is Britain a large, heterogeneous country even as it is a state in the European
Union? Texas is much larger, and yet it too is a state in a union of relatively
homogeneous states.
The full essay is at "Essays on the E.U. Political Economy," available at Amazon.
[1] Katrin
Bennhold, "How Scottish Independence Relates to Larger Tax Fights,"
The New York Times, August 21, 2014.
