In 2014, voters in Scotland and Flanders were faced with a choice which would shape the constitutional future of their respective nations as well as that of the British and Belgian states. The Scottish National Party and the Nieuw-Vlaamse Alliantie sought different types of self-government, but their proposals were made in response to the embedding state. This article analyses the messaging of each party, determining that both discursively use the state–as concept and as institution–in similar ways. Both acknowledge the inter-dependence inherent to governance in the twenty-first century, but argue that self-government remains necessary. They also use the perceived failings of the state to make their case for self-government. However, there are important, albeit subtle, areas of variation, reflecting both the nature of each party’s self-government goals and their strategies in pursuit of them.