We tend to think of time as a smooth-flowing river. History is different. It does not so much flow as jerk along like a worn commuter train, stopping often and only rarely moving fast. This year was one of the rare moments.

Since we did our first issue on ethics around the world twelve months ago, Europe has changed. The German Democratic Republic has disappeared into a new Germany. Five of Germany's neighbors have turned out regimes in power more or less continuously since 1948. With very little bloodshed, the people of these countries have rejoined Europe and begun remaking themselves.

We can only guess what will happen next. Yet, this much seems plain. Power did not grow out of the barrel of a gun. The guns were in fact powerless. Those with the guns-and the schools, patronage jobs, television stations, and all the other "levers of power"-lost to those who had little more than courage and good reasons. This was a year to remind us that, in the long run at least, we can learn from our mistakes and, having learned, act accordingly. History is not a rolling prison.

Perhaps events leading up to the Gulf War tell a similar story. Force alone could not have persuaded almost every country on earth to condemn Iraq for invading its neighbor. Considerations of justice and mutual benefit, of moral principle generally, seem to carry more weight today than at any time in living memory. The place of ethics in this world should, it seems, be more secure than in a world where (as Kipling put it) "steel, cold steel, is master of them all."

But who knows? We can only look at the evidence and decide for ourselves. This issue of Perspectives is a contribution to the evidence available. Thanks to our subscribers, their friends, and even friends of their friends, this issue includes at least one contribution from every continent-except Antarctica (and counting New Zealand as part of the Australian continent). Elena Lugo was especially helpful, providing a long list of contacts in Latin America.

Despite my intention to return to eight pages, this issue has twelve. And, even so, I have had to put several pieces aside. Together with pieces promised but not yet received, I have enough for another issue on ethics around the world, tentatively scheduled for next August. (I hope that reference to "promises" will prick the conscience of those who have not yet done as promised.)

The nine pieces published here resist brief description or easy classification. Costa Rica, for example, though "Latin American;" seems to have as much in common with Hong Kong as either has with Chile. Complaints about physicians in Egypt sound much like those in New Zealand. Some of Sweden's scandals have counterparts in Chile and Hong King. Apparently, countries, like people, become less predictable the more we know of them.

While the purpose of Ethics Around the World has been to inform readers about ethics in other countries, we may in fact be doing more. Our Argentine contributor's letter to me (not published here) reports that she first learned of one of her country's most important bioethics center from the introduction to last August's issue.

The Announcements also tell something of the increasing importance of ethics internationally. No less than five of the seven conferences listed concern international ethics or ethics internationally. This seems to be a year for neighborliness.

Also included here is the usual "At the Center," this one Robert Ladenson’s last as acting director.