‘Scotland sits at the nexus of three key concepts: civil society, nation and state’
McCrone is open-minded on the form that future socio-political structures may take: ‘genuine nation-states hardly exist’ (p.241) and we can ‘think in terms of degrees of state-ness’ (p.31). The European question looms ever larger: ‘“Being European” has entered the politics of Scotland and England, and relations with the British state are changed utterly’ (p.262).
McCrone concludes that ‘the past has become a poor predictor of Scotland’s future’ (p.268). This is surely right. Changing Scotland depends on choices made by voters; but it also depends on natural, technological and geopolitical factors (climate change, AI, etc.) far beyond Scottish (and possibly human) control. Something of McCrone’s own position may be guessed from his Preface, which is dated St Andrew’s Day 2024 and (channelling Michael Marra) figures himself as apprentice to the late Neil MacCormick. For me, sociology can’t quite fill the philosophical gap left by MacCormick. But it’s a good start.