I am a lecturer in British Politics at the University of Stirling and am Director of the Scottish Political Archive. My research focuses on the politics of independence and union as well as governance post-Brexit and I am currently working on an ESRC project on devolution at 25.
I teach on Scottish and UK politics, and party politics and have a keen interest in teaching and innovation in qualitative methods. I welcome PhD dissertation proposals in the field of Scottish nationalism and independence.
I regularly provide media commentary on Scottish and UK politics, and welcome media inquiries. I also frequently provide evidence to UK and Scottish Parliamentary inquiries.
Prior to joining Stirling, I was a lecturer in Comparative Politics at Queen's University Belfast, and was Deputy Director of Edinburgh's Centre on Constitutional Change. My PhD is from the University Edinburgh.
My research focuses on the politics of independence and union in the UK and in comparative perspectives. I also work in post-Brexit governance arrangements, namely the economic union and internal market.
Book Chapter
Independence and Unity: Constitutional Futures on These Islands
Swan CB & Doyle J (2025) Independence and Unity: Constitutional Futures on These Islands. In: Gillespie P, Keating M & McEwen N (eds.) Political Change across Britain and Ireland. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, pp. 200-220. https://doi.org/10.1515/9781399541558-011
Routine or Reset: Intergovernmental Relations Post-Brexit
Brown Swan C (2024) Routine or Reset: Intergovernmental Relations Post-Brexit. SPICE Breakfast Briefing, Scottish Parliament, 06.11.2024.
Article
Politics and the Pandemic: The UK Covid-19 Inquiry and Devolution
Brown Swan C, Anderson P & Sijstermans J (2024) Politics and the Pandemic: The UK Covid-19 Inquiry and Devolution. Political Quarterly. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-923X.13473
Policy Document
Westminster Rules? The United Kingdom Internal Market Act and Devolution
Brown Swan C, Horsley T, McEwen N & Whitten L (2024) Westminster Rules? The United Kingdom Internal Market Act and Devolution. UK in a Changing Europe. Glasgow: Centre for Public Policy, University of Glasgow. https://doi.org/10.36399/gla.pubs.337897
Article
Anderson P & Brown Swan C (2024) An Unstable Union? The Conservative Party, the British Political Tradition, and devolution in Scotland and Wales 2010–23. Parliamentary Affairs, Art. No.: gsae020. https://doi.org/10.1093/pa/gsae020
Article
Representing Scotland: Conservative Narratives of Nation, Union, and Scottish Independence
Brown Swan C & Anderson P (2024) Representing Scotland: Conservative Narratives of Nation, Union, and Scottish Independence. Frontiers in Political Science, 6. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpos.2024.1392346
Exhibition
25 Years of Scottish Parliament
Article
'We Can’t Afford to be a Branch Office’: The Territorial Dynamics of the British Labour Party
Brown Swan C & Kenny M (2024) 'We Can’t Afford to be a Branch Office’: The Territorial Dynamics of the British Labour Party. Parliamentary Affairs, 77 (1), pp. 109-128. https://doi.org/10.1093/pa/gsac022
Book Chapter
Scotland, Devolution and Independence: A Union at its Limits?
Brown Swan C (2023) Scotland, Devolution and Independence: A Union at its Limits?. In: Diverse Voices in Public Law. Diverse Voices. Bristol: Bristol University Press, pp. 91-118. https://doi.org/10.51952/9781529220766.ch005
Article
The Road to Victory Runs Through Scotland? Prospects for Labour in the Post‐Sturgeon Era
Brown Swan C (2023) The Road to Victory Runs Through Scotland? Prospects for Labour in the Post‐Sturgeon Era. The Political Quarterly. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-923x.13336
Article
Anderson P, Swan CB, Ferreira C & Sijstermans J (2023) State making or state breaking?’ Crisis, COVID‐19 and the constitution in Belgium, Spain and the United Kingdom. Nations and Nationalism. https://doi.org/10.1111/nana.12983
Article
“We're socialists not nationalists”: British labour and the national question(s)
Brown Swan C (2023) “We're socialists not nationalists”: British labour and the national question(s). Nations and Nationalism, 29 (2), pp. 467-481. https://doi.org/10.1111/nana.12868
Article
Speaking for ‘our precious Union’: unionist claims in the time of Brexit, 2016–20
Cetrà D & Brown Swan C (2022) Speaking for ‘our precious Union’: unionist claims in the time of Brexit, 2016–20. Territory, Politics, Governance, 10 (5), pp. 646-660. https://doi.org/10.1080/21622671.2021.1943510
Article
Recasting the state: The Scottish National Party and the Nieuw‐Vlaamse Alliantie
Brown Swan C (2022) Recasting the state: The Scottish National Party and the Nieuw‐Vlaamse Alliantie. Studies in Ethnicity and Nationalism, 22 (3), pp. 188-202. https://doi.org/10.1111/sena.12376
Edited Book
State and Majority Nationalism in Plurinational States
Cetra D & Brown Swan C (eds.) (2022) State and Majority Nationalism in Plurinational States. London: Taylor and Francis. https://www.routledge.com/State-and-Majority-Nationalism-in-Plurinational-States/Cetra-Swan/p/book/9781032403816
Book Review
Brown Swan C (2022) Scottish Nationalism: History, Ideology and the Question of Independence: by R. Finlay, London, Bloomsbury Academic, 2022, 252 pp., £85.00 (hardback), ISBN 978-1-350-27810-3. Review of: Scottish Nationalism: History, Ideology and the Question of Independence by R. Finlay, London, Bloomsbury Academic, 2022, 252 pp., £85.00 (hardback), ISBN 978-1-350-27810-3. Regional & Federal Studies. https://doi.org/10.1080/13597566.2022.2146674
Article
Shades of solidarity: Comparing Scottish and Flemish responses to Catalonia
Sijstermans J & Brown Swan C (2022) Shades of solidarity: Comparing Scottish and Flemish responses to Catalonia. Regional & Federal Studies, 32 (2), pp. 161-181. https://doi.org/10.1080/13597566.2021.1881064
Book Chapter
Embedded Independence: Self-Government and Interdependence in the Scottish National Movement
Brown Swan C & McEwen N (2021) Embedded Independence: Self-Government and Interdependence in the Scottish National Movement. In: Constitutional Politics in Multinational Democracies. Democracy, Diversity, and Citizen Engagement Series, 6. Montreal, Canada: McGill-Queen's University Press, pp. 75-100. https://www.mqup.ca/constitutional-politics-in-multinational-democracies-products-9780228006602.php
Book Chapter
Referendum Redux: Catalonia, Quebec and Lessons for Scotland
Brown Swan C & Cetra D (2021) Referendum Redux: Catalonia, Quebec and Lessons for Scotland. In: Scotland’s new choice: Independence after Brexit. Edinburgh: Centre on Constitutional Change, pp. 56-68. https://www.centreonconstitutionalchange.ac.uk/sites/default/files/2021-03/Scotlands-New-Choice.pdf
Book Chapter
Brown Swan C (2020) The Independence Question. In: Keating M (ed.) The Oxford Handbook of Scottish Politics. Oxford Handbooks. Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 633-649. https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780198825098.013.33
Article
Why Stay Together? State Nationalism and Justifications for State Unity in Spain and the UK
Brown Swan C & Cetrà D (2020) Why Stay Together? State Nationalism and Justifications for State Unity in Spain and the UK. Nationalism and Ethnic Politics, 26 (1), pp. 46-65. https://doi.org/10.1080/13537113.2020.1716443
Article
State and Majority Nationalism in Plurinational States: Responding to Challenges from Below
Cetrà D & Brown Swan C (2020) State and Majority Nationalism in Plurinational States: Responding to Challenges from Below. Nationalism and Ethnic Politics, 26 (1), pp. 1-7. https://doi.org/10.1080/13537113.2020.1716435
Article
Intergovernmental Relations in the UK: Time for a Radical Overhaul?
McEwen N, Kenny M, Sheldon J & Brown Swan C (2020) Intergovernmental Relations in the UK: Time for a Radical Overhaul?. The Political Quarterly, 91 (3), pp. 632-640. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-923x.12862
Consultancy Report
Reforming Intergovernmental Relations in the United Kingdom
McEwen N, Kenny M, Sheldon J & Brown Swan C (2018) Reforming Intergovernmental Relations in the United Kingdom. Centre on Constitutional Change. Edinburgh: University of Edinburgh. https://www.centreonconstitutionalchange.ac.uk/sites/default/files/migrated/papers/Reforming%20Intergovernmental%20Relations%20in%20the%20United%20Kingdom_nov18.pdf
Book Chapter
Brown Swan C & Petersohn B (2017) The Currency Issue. In: Keating M (ed.) Debating Scotland: Issues of Independence and Union in the 2014 Referendum. Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 65-83. https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof%3Aoso/9780198789819.003.0004
Consultancy Report
Intergovernmental Relations & Parliamentary Scrutiny
McEwen N, Petersohn B & Brown Swan C (2015) Intergovernmental Relations & Parliamentary Scrutiny. Scottish Parliament. Edinburgh. https://www.centreonconstitutionalchange.ac.uk/publications/intergovernmental-relations-parliamentary-scrutiny
