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The problem of the minority voice is an old problem, but one that has not been adequately dealt with. Democracy, in the forms in which it has been institutionalized, has not insured humane prison conditions, equality of the sexes, satisfactory child protection, adequate legal representation, or minority rights; indeed, democracy is often advanced as an excuse for ignoring these issues. The problem of getting a fair and effective hearing for the small, the weak, the poor, and the disadvantaged still lies before us. Such are some of the questions of law, justice and the state toward which the studies in this volume were meant to be directed. They are among the vital questions of our time, and not only in Europe.This volume presents papers which were all delivered at the 16th IVR World Congress in Reykjavík. Many legal theorists, social philosophers and social scientists have done an excellent work on the topics of nationality and nationalism, the state, the evolution of democracy, competing conceptions of justice, and ideologies and strategies for the future.