In December 1990, an empirical study assessing hospital ethics committee (HEC) success was completed. Success was measured in terms of the number of interventions undertaken by the committees in four functional areas: education, guidelines development, prospective and retrospective case review. Some commonly quoted success determinants, such as multidisciplinarity, physician chairpersons, and a high institutional status of the chairperson were found not to foster success; the latter two, actually decreased committee success.

The United Kingdom has many bodies that play their part in carrying out the work of national ethics committees, but its nearest equivalent of a U.S. presidential bioethics commission is the Nuffield Council on Bioethics, established in 1991. The Council is charged with examining ethical questions raised by developments in biological and medical research, publishing reports, and making representations to appropriate bodies in order to respond to or anticipate public concern. It is a nongovernment organization with no defined or guaranteed (...) channels of influence. It has no authority merely by virtue of the position it holds. Rather, it has established relational authority based on its reputation. Unlike the U.S. bioethics commission, it is not part of executive government, nor is it constituted to contribute to the legislative branch, as does the French Comité Consultatif National d'Ethique. Its nongovernmental status notwithstanding, the Nuffield Council's work affects the U.K. government and the British public, and the Council has achieved international recognition for its reports. I was the chairperson from 2012 to 2017 and draw on my experience in this piece to consider three key audiences: governments, publics, and the international community. (shrink)

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(1996). Contract government and the academic intellectuals. The European Legacy: Vol. 1, Fourth International Conference of the International Society for the study of European Ideas, pp. 762-770.

(1996). Statelessness: The making and unmaking of political identity. The European Legacy: Vol. 1, Fourth International Conference of the International Society for the study of European Ideas, pp. 820-825.

(1996). Stereotype discourse in Israel. The European Legacy: Vol. 1, Fourth International Conference of the International Society for the study of European Ideas, pp. 680-688.

(1996). Theory and practice in the economy of Albania (1912–1994) The European Legacy: Vol. 1, Fourth International Conference of the International Society for the study of European Ideas, pp. 842-848.

(1996). National identity: A variable concept. The European Legacy: Vol. 1, Fourth International Conference of the International Society for the study of European Ideas, pp. 445-452.

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(1996). Socialism and the “political question”. The European Legacy: Vol. 1, Fourth International Conference of the International Society for the study of European Ideas, pp. 532-537.

(1996). The Conradian inheritance in the African novel. The European Legacy: Vol. 1, Fourth International Conference of the International Society for the study of European Ideas, pp. 101-108.

(1996). Rhetorical problems of emergent democracy: Political change and political discourse in Poland. The European Legacy: Vol. 1, Fourth International Conference of the International Society for the study of European Ideas, pp. 568-574.

(1996). Public opinion and democratic culture: The French revolution. The European Legacy: Vol. 1, Fourth International Conference of the International Society for the study of European Ideas, pp. 175-180.

(1996). Repairing the moral deficits of capitalism: The role of the nonprofit sector. The European Legacy: Vol. 1, Fourth International Conference of the International Society for the study of European Ideas, pp. 595-600.

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(1996). The concept of Carolingian Europe in the foreign policy of the Federal Republic of Germany. The European Legacy: Vol. 1, Fourth International Conference of the International Society for the study of European Ideas, pp. 727-733.