The notion of community occupies a central position in restorative justice. The more restorative justice goes beyond practice and aims at developing a coherent theory, the more community is hard to define and to theorize. The problems with the notion of community are that community is not an ontological given, but a socio-ethical ideal; there is a lack of clarity on the position of community in the process; the limited availability of community; and the risks of exclusivism. There are two challenges for developing a normative restorative justice theory that could provide a basis for policy and research. The first challenge is that restorative justice must build upon the ethics and social values it promotes, and explain its possible superiority in comparison with social responses to crime that are not primarily restoration-oriented. The second challenge is that it must reflect more on the way restorative practice and policy can be built into the principles of a constitutional democracy. The concept of community is too vague to be useful in scientific and legal constructs and it holds serious risks of social anomalies. Communitarianism is the label used for a socio-ethical movement where members take responsibility based on mutual respect and solidarity. The concept of dominion offers the opportunity to combine the crucial elements of both communitarianism and legal society. Dominion displays the interdependency of the State and the social values promoted by most communitarians, and avoids the risks of exclusion. 9 notes, 41 references