In this conversation at the Review of Democracy, Martin Conway and Camilo Erlichman – editors of the new volume Social Justice in Twentieth-Century Europe – discuss how to approach the question of social justice historically; show how this aspiration may be placed at the confluence of key developments in the twentieth century; explain how focusing on these questions allows us to study the interactions between rulers and the ruled; sketch some of the main features of different eras of social justice; and consider whether social justice is still understood primarily by its absence as it so often was during the past century.

Martin Conway is a Professor of Contemporary European History at the University of Oxford. His recent books include the major monograph Western Europe's Democratic Age: 1945 to 1968.

Camilo Erlichman is a historian of modern and contemporary Europe who acts as an Assistant Professor at Maastricht University. He is also the co-founder and co-convenor of the Occupation Studies Research Network.

Social Justice in Twentieth-Century Europe has been published by Cambridge University Press.

The conversation was conducted by Ferenc Laczó. Ádám Hushegyi prepared the audio file for publication.