The contributors to this volume – all specialists on Soviet law and politics – offer a comprehensive examination of the effort to create a "law-based" state in the Gorbachev-era U.S.S.R., thus effecting a fundamental change in the relationship between the state and private groups and individuals. Gianmaria Ajani, Donald Barry, Harold Berman, Frances Foster-Simons, George Ginsburgs, John Hazard, Kathryn Hendley, Eugene Huskey, Dietrich Loeber, Peter Maggs, Hiroshi Oda, Nicolai Petro, Robert Sharlet, Louise Shelley, Will Simons and Peter Solomon, with commentary by Soviet scholars, discuss conceptual, historical, social, cultural, and institutional aspects of Soviet legal development, and supply detailed analysis of recent developments in the areas of civil, criminal, and labour law and the rights of individuals, economic organizations, and political and social groups.