MR. KOJO NNAMDIFrom WAMU 88.5 at American University in Washington, welcome to "The Kojo Nnamdi Show," connecting your neighborhood with the world. Later in the broadcast, beyond celebrity arrests and viral videos, trying to make sense of African conflicts today. But first, Scottish legends like Robert the Bruce and William Wallace fought brutal battles centuries ago, but kept Scots free from British rule. Scotland stayed independent for hundreds of years, but eventually became part of the United Kingdom in the 1700s.

MR. KOJO NNAMDIAnd now, Alex Salmond, the head of the Scottish National Party is waging a very different kind of war for Scottish Independence. He's called for an independence referendum. And Scottish and British politicals are working out the details of a vote that could lead to a reworking of the Union. Joining us to discuss this by phone from London is Anthony Faiola, the Washington Post London Bureau Chief. Anthony, thank you for joining us.

MR. ANTHONY FAIOLANot at all, thanks for having me.

NNAMDIAlso joining us by phone from Quebec is Glenn Campbell, Scotland political correspondent for the BBC. Glenn Campbell, thank you for joining us.

MR. GLENN CAMPBELLHi.

NNAMDIGlenn, you're not joining us from Scotland as I mentioned, but Canada, which is apparently relevant to this conversation. What are you doing in Canada?

CAMPBELLI'm standing inside the national assembly in Quebec at the moment. And the reason that we've come here is because the Queen of Quebec has had, not one, but two referendums down the years, asking the people of Scotland about the possibility of independence from Canada. Now, in both cases, those proposing independence were turned down in the vote, but obviously there's a lot of experience here on holding referendums. And as we move toward a similar vote in Scotland, probably in the autumn of 2014, we thought it would be good to come here and see if there are lessons that we can learn in Scotland.

NNAMDIIn the late '90s, Scotland gained greater autonomy than it had for centuries. This question for you, Anthony Faiola. What does the country already have control over and where does Britain rule?

FAIOLAWell, at the moment, they, for instance, have the ability to spend more freely then some of the other areas might in the UK But what they're still fighting for is even more autonomy perhaps that could either be achieved or independence or if you like something that would almost be like independent light, which is a greater devolution, where they'd have more power over taxation and in fact, more power over other elements that they would love to see more control over.

NNAMDIWe'd love to hear from the Scots in our audience. How do you feel about Scotland's push for greater independence? You can call us at 800-433-8850, send us a tweet @kojoshow, email to kojo@wamu.org or simply go to our website kojoshow.org and join the conversation there. Glenn, how does Scotland compare to other countries that are part of the United Kingdom in terms of its relative independence?

CAMPBELLWell, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is made of England, Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales. And of those nations, Scotland has more power devolved to the Scottish parliament then say to the Assembly in Wales or assembly in Northern Ireland. But the Scottish National Party, which runs the government in Scotland, the devolved government in Scotland, would like full independence. And they're still looking at the possibility of having this second option on the referendum ballot paper, which would look at a much more powerful Scottish parliament inside the United Kingdom.

NNAMDIIn terms of the rational for this, the head of the Scottish National Party, Alex Salmond, well, let's listen to what he had to say.

MR. ALEX SALMONDWith independence, we can have a new social union with the other nations of these islands. We'll continue to share her majesty the Queen as head of state. But we won't have a our young service men and women dragged into illegal wars like Iraq and we won't have nuclear weapons based on Scottish soil. Independence will create a new more modern relationship between the nations of these islands. A partnership of equals. I want Scotland to be independent, not because I think we are better than any other country, but because I know we are just as good as any other country.

NNAMDIAlex Salmond, the head of the Scottish National Party. Glenn Campbell, generations of Scots have longed for independence over the 300 years that the country has been part of the UK. Why is the push for independence gaining momentum now?

CAMPBELLWell, the Scottish National Party, which favors independence, has only been around for less than 80 years. And in 2007, it won power for the very first time, forming a minority government in Scotland. It came back to power in 2011 with a majority, which is not even supposed to be possible within the system we have in Scotland. So now they have the political mandate to hold this referendum. The United Kingdom government which opposes their plans for independence says they don't have the legal powers. But because it has recognized that they have won that political mandate, it is willing to offer the legal authority to make this vote possible and to make it count whatever people decide.

NNAMDIAnthony Faiola, how do the Brits feel about all this?

FAIOLAWell that's an interesting question. The polls show that the English, for instance, are more in favor now of Scottish independence then they ever have been which is a bit ironic. Even that, you're still talking about only 26 percent of the public. But the number appears to be growing. There seems to be somewhat of a backlash emerging among the English who feel that the Scots are taking more then they're giving back to the UK in terms of taxation and the kinds of benefits that they receive. So, you know, it's going to be interesting to see how this is going to play out.

NNAMDIWell, here's what British Prime Minister David Cameron had to say about it.

BRITISH PRIME MINISTER DAVID CAMERONOf course, Scotland could govern itself, so could England. My point is that we do it so much better together. I can and I will innumerate a number of practical reasons for our United Kingdom. But the reason I make the case is partly emotional because this a question of the heart as well as the head. The United Kingdom isn't just some sort of deal to be reduced to the lowest common denominator. It's a precious thing. It's about our history, our values, our shared identity and our joint place in the world. I'm not just proud of the union because it's useful, I'm proud because it shapes and strengthens us all.

NNAMDIBritish Prime Minister David Cameron. We're talking about the Scottish move toward independence and taking your calls at 800-433-8850. Do you think Scotland should become completely independent of the UK or remain a part of it, 800-433-8850? You can send email to kojo@wamu.org. We're talking with Glenn Campbell. He is Scotland political correspondent for the BBC. He joins us by phone from Quebec. And Anthony Faiola of the Washington Post. He's the London Bureau Chief, joins us by phone from London. Anthony Faiola, negotiations to work out details of a referendum are under way. The Scottish National Party wants the vote to take place in 2014 while Britain would like the vote to come sooner, why is that?

FAIOLAWell, largely there's an assumption that because the economy across the UK is not doing too well right now that the Scots would therefore feel a bit more trepidations about going off on their own. So if you hold an election sooner, if you hold a referendum sooner, the argument would go that, in fact, the Scots would be more willing to stay part of the UK.

NNAMDIAnd Glenn Campbell, why do the Scots want it to take place in 2014?

CAMPBELLWell Alex Salmond wants to wait partly because of opinion polls do not yet show that there is majority in favor of independence. In fact, over the last generation or so, around a 1/3 of the population came to tell (word?) that they are in favor. So Alex Salmond feels he needs a bit more time to make the case, to make the argument and to build support.

CAMPBELLHe favors, often, 2014 partly because it's a year when the Ryder Cup will be played in Scotland, the Commonwealth Games will come to Scotland. And he hopes that there will be a bit more (word?) around, partly also because a UK-wide general election will be looming and he feels that that will make it harder for the political parties that favor the United Kingdom to camping together to try and defeat his plans for independence.

NNAMDIGot a boat, a big picture and a little picture question. First I'll ask you the big picture question, Glenn Campbell. A lot of the details of this referendum are up in the air and there are a lot of big picture questions that need to be addressed. If Scotland becomes independent, what would be likely to change and what would likely stay the same? Glenn Campbell?

CAMPBELLWell, If I got your question correctly, the plan that Alex Salmond has for independence would mean that two powers, two sovereignty would transfer from the United Kingdom to Scotland. However the form of nationalism that Alex Salmond faces is one where having won sovereignty, he would choose to pull sovereignty with much of the rest of the United Kingdom. So he's already said that he would like to keep the Queen the head of state, that he would like to keep the pound sterling as Scotland's currency.

CAMPBELLThe Scottish government are run by the Scottish National Party at the moment working up our prospectus for independence. And I suspect that when that's published, the SNP will be proposing to continue to share a whole range of other institutions with the rest of the United Kingdom. The question then is, if people vote for that, vote for that form of independence, will the rest of the United Kingdom want to continue to share with Scotland.

NNAMDIAnthony Faiola, we got this question on our Facebook page from Jay. "Scotland is part of the UK and the UK has a national debt. Each citizen is responsible for his or her share of that debt. If Scotland breaks free, will it have to refinance its proportional part of the UK National Debt? Can Scotland afford the debt payment?

FAIOLAWell, that's an excellent question. I mean, especially given everything that's happening in Europe right now with the debt crisis and Greece, Portugal, Ireland. I mean, in Ireland, of course, being a country that was some time ago, part of the UK So, you know, what you can see is that when smaller countries break away, they occasionally have had more problems, especially recently in terms of overspending, taking on too much debt, getting into recessions and then not being able to pay the bill.

FAIOLABut, you know, the interesting thing with Scotland is that a lot is going to depend on whether or not it's able to secure the profits from the North Sea oils, from the English and from the rest of the UK. If it's able to do that, there is an argument that says that they'd be able to stand on their own two feet and in fact might emerge to be a country somewhat like the boutique nations in Scandinavia with an economy larger then Denmark's.

NNAMDIGlenn Campbell, first minister and Scottish National Party Alex Salmond is so confident the vote will go ahead in 2014 that he plans to kick off a Yes campaign this May. It's my understanding that it's not yet clear who other then the SNP would be involved but that it would be a broad campaign.

CAMPBELLThat's what's being promised, that our local elections in Scotland, at the beginning of May, the Scottish National Party think that they can make further gains and continue their momentum through those elections. And therefore shortly afterwards, they promise to launch the yes campaign for independence. Intended political parties, they are the main force in politics arguing for independence of Scottish dream party and smaller socialist parties also support it.

CAMPBELLHowever, at the same time, the other major political parties who want to keep Scotland a part of the United Kingdom are starting to work together to form the campaign that they hope will persuade Scots to stay inside the United Kingdom.

NNAMDIAnthony Faiola, one of the big questions this raises is whether Scotland could jump the line and gain entry to the European Union ahead of countries like Iceland, Serbia, Turkey that are currently on the waitlist. Are any European countries or the EU itself coming down on either side of this or are they largely staying out of it?

FAIOLAWell, I mean, to some extent their staying out of it but there's also some behind-the-scenes talk that countries like Spain in particular are very nervous about the kind of precedent that an independent Scotland could set there for instance and also in Belgium where there's been a lot of separatist action. There's a lot of talk there about dividing the country in two over linguistic lines.

FAIOLASo, you know, it really does come down to whether or not countries like Spain, like Belgium, are going to be willing to say, okay, Scotland can go towards the front of the line. But there's also going to be some sort of a backlash from the countries, as you mentioned, that are already in line to see whether or not Scotland should go to the back.

NNAMDIAnd, Glenn, so what should we be on the lookout for next as this moves forward? Glenn?

CAMPBELLWell, the Scottish and UK governments still have to thrash out that deal to agree that terms for the rest of England, whether there's going to be one straight yes/no question on independence or whether another option short of independence with more power for the Scottish Parliament will be included. That's critical and it's really important that those terms are agreed well in advance by all sides so that the outcome, whatever it is, is respected by all sides.

CAMPBELLSo that's one of the key developments to look out for. Of course, in the meantime, the arguments will continue to flare over some of these key issues, not least the membership of the European Union, which ultimately would decide both in terms of legal questions, but also the prevailing politics in the European Union at the point of independence should happen.

NNAMDIGlenn Campbell, thank you for joining us. Glenn Campbell is Scotland political correspondent for the BBC. Anthony Faiola, thank you for joining us.

FAIOLAThank you.

NNAMDIAnthony Faiola is the Washington Post London Bureau Chief. We're going to take a short break. When we come back, beyond celebrity arrests and viral videos, trying to make sense of African conflicts today. I'm Kojo Nnamdi.