Cold Leviathan: Civil Defence and Technocracy in Scottish Local Government, 1980–1991

At the height of Cold War nuclear tensions in the early 1980s, the British government's decision to renew civil defence met widespread opposition from local authorities in Scotland. Many councils refused to comply with statutory civil defence planning regulations introduced by the Scottish Office in 1983. This article focusses on two differing regional case studies – the Highlands and Lothians – to consider the impact of the 1983 regulations and the technocratic rationale underlying them. It will argue that technocratic civil defence was the corollary of a deindustrialising society, incompatible with communal mobilisation and a touchpaper for political conflict.