Acts of State: Guided Weapons, Land Tenure and Rural Development in the Outer Hebrides, 1956–1960

At a time of rising Cold War enmity in Europe, the British government planned a new Joint Services Guided Weapons Establishment in the southern Outer Hebrides and St Kilda. To mitigate local opposition in the Uists and Benbecula, the Air Ministry pledged the creation of jobs and new civil infrastructure for crofting communities struggling to maintain their security of tenure. This article examines both the high-level political manoeuvres in London and Edinburgh and crofters’ responses to the government's scheme in the local context. The project's legal implications for land tenure are considered along with its deeper effect on local perceptions of the British state's developmental promise.