WE live in a big world about which, at our peril, we have to find our way. And we find our way in so far as the mechanisms of society make increasingly possible, for an increasing number of people, a response to their desires. Every part of our social system—its religions, its way of holding property, its method of government-is an attempt to this end. Since it is Government that ultimately controls all the mechanisms, it is fundamentally important in social theory to understand its nature. These are the points that Professor Laski will make in his third talk.