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The Politics of Scotland forms a distinctive part of the wider politics of the United Kingdom. Constitutionally, the United Kingdom is de jure a unitary state with one sovereign parliament and government. However, under a system of devolution (or home rule) adopted in the late 1990s three of the four countries of the United Kingdom --Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland-- voted for limited self-government, subject to the continuing sovereignty of the UK Parliament in Westminster. As such the Scottish Parliament is not de jure sovereign. However, it is thought unlikely that any UK parliament would try to unilaterally abolish the devolved parliament and government without consultation with the voter via a referendum. The head of state in Scotland is the British monarch, currently Queen Elizabeth II (since 1952).
Executive power in the United Kingdom is vested in the Queen-in-Council, while legislative power is vested in the Queen-in-Parliament (the Crown and the Parliament of the United Kingdom at Westminster in London). Under devolution, executive and legislative powers in certain areas have been constitutionally delegated to the Scottish Government and the Scottish Parliament, respectively. The United Kingdom Parliament retains active power over Scotland's taxes, social security system, the military, international relations, broadcasting, and some other areas explicitly specified in the Scotland Act 1998 as reserved matters. The Scottish Parliament has legislative authority for all other areas relating to Scotland, and has limited power to vary income tax (the so-called Tartan Tax).