Special Issue: Reciprocity and Social Order in the Historical Context Asako KURIHARA Social Order is a historical construction rooted in the structure of personal networks in a given society. In this issue, six topics were chosen from various areas of European history to depict the different ways in which reciprocal behaviors were 'embedded' in the public order. It will be shown that reciprocity was not a remnant of 'primitive' society, but rather was kept modified, incorporated, and adapted to each historical circumstance to play an active role in the making of social order. After a brief introduction, following topics will be dealt with: 1. Asako KURIHARA, Reciprocity and Civic Order in Classical Athens: A Perspective 2. Kyozo NAKAO, Magnesian Asylia and Interstate relationship 3. Arata MORI, An Alien Merchant Guild: 'Statua et Ordinamenta Societatis Mercatorum Florentinorum Bononie Comorantium' 4. Satoshi SHIGAKI, Recent Studies on the Order in Local Societies: Early Modern Germany 5. Tomonori MIZUTA, The 'End' of Patronage in Late 19th Century Britain: Civil Service Reform and the Principle of Competition by Merit 6. Masafumi KITAMURA, Reciprocity in 19th Century Germany: Association and Social State