The new Scotland should be a nation of partners, not customers - of citizens, not subjects. The coming months will determine whether this is a dream or a reality.

The next year will be critical in giving shape to the procedures and policy directions of our new Parliament. On that much, most of us agree.

Less clear is what is the central question in Scottish politics in the run-up to our first Parliament in 300 years.

Some of the media, and many politicians, think they know the answer - the main issue is what state we want to belong to, whether Scotland's Parliament is ''a settlement'' or a bridge to independence.

Fuelled by opinion polls, and by the corrosive mutual hatred of our two largest parties, we are told daily that devolution versus independence is today's live issue.

It is not. It is yesterday's question. For Scotland, as for Ireland, the old battles about which State we want are becoming increasingly irrelevant in the new Europe, in which the Nation State is gradually, but irreversibly losing power - or, better say, sharing power in both directions - with the EU, and with the ''regions'' and nations within states.

Let us not spend the next crucial year giving the oxygen of debate and publicity to a political issue that is on its deathbed. We have more important things to do.

When the history of our time comes to be written, the real issue of 1998 will be seen, I believe, to be this: will Scotland's Parliament be the pioneer of the new kind of politics that the new era so desperately needs? The powers of our Parliament are substantial, covering most of the areas that affect the daily lives of our people. In fairness, I have to say that the Government has kept its promises, both on timetable and on remaining faithful to the scheme for Scotland's Parliament so carefully worked out in the Scottish Constitutional Convention.

Both in the powers, and in the electoral system, it is a scheme that no single party would ever have been likely to devise, left to itself. The debate now is much more about procedures and policy options

- generated by the questions sent out by the Consultative Steering Group on the Scottish Parliament, and by important initiatives such as The Herald Forum.

Everyone living in Scotland should be part of these debates, which will enable our Parliament to hit the ground running in mid-1999.

There is another, even deeper, problem.

How can we engage not just the facts but the feelings of the people? How can we nurture a new psychology, which allows the people of Scotland to feel real pride in and ownership of our own Parliament?

The greatest achievement of the Constitutional Convention was not simply the scheme now being implemented. It can be summed up in two words

- consensus and participation. In a society where politics is conflict-based, and in which power is centralised and secretive, the convention brought a gale-force wind of change. We proved that consensus was possible on major issues that divided us, and that people could take part in shaping their own future.

A new political culture, which emphasises consensus instead of conflict, and participation instead of centralised

decision-making, would not only be a new kind of democracy - it is essential if we are to move into a sustainable society for the new century.

Only a society capable of consistent long-term

policy- making, and in real partnership with the people and with all major ''stakeholders'' - such as business, unions, local government and the voluntary ''civic society'' - will be able to develop the integrated strategies that combine economic efficiency, social cohesion, environmental enhancement, and political participation. In short, to promote real sustainable development.

A new democracy, based on a new type of politics, is not a luxury: it is the only foundation for the new era.

That is the real test of the foundations we lay this year.

The new electoral system will help: so will the debates already started on procedures (standing orders) and policies.

But we need something deeper and broader - something that reaches the parts other debates cannot reach. That something could be People and Parliament - a nationwide programme to be launched soon, initiated by the Scottish churches' Vision 21 group.

A simple study leaflet, already tested with pilot groups all over the country, will invite people to form small groups to discuss what they really want for Scotland in general, and from the Parliament. All the results will be carefully and professionally analysed, and given to Scotland's Parliament and to all its members - and to the people.

We hope to work closely with all the Scottish print and broadcasting media, including The Herald Forum, and with the Consultative Steering Group, to bring this new dimension of values and of long-term goals for our society into the debate now.

Our vision remains, not just for a new Parliament, but a new Scotland, equipped for the new era. We must use the next year to lay the foundation on which our Parliament will build that new democracy, and not let ourselves be bogged down in the old, tired political squabbles and stitch-ups.

We may fail - but which of us would dare say to our children and grandchildren that, in Scotland's moment of unique historic opportunity, we did not even try?