In this chapter, we argue that codes of ethics in psychology are shaped by political transitions to reflect the process and outcomes of such change, as well as exert political control over psychologists to varying degrees.  We illustrate how codes of ethics in psychology are socially constructed by sampling from the general principles and specific standards of ethics codes or from the rights and obligations of psychologists as codified by law in selected countries that have transitioned or are currently transitioning from communism to free-market democracy (e.g., Romania), military dictatorship to representative government (e.g., Chile), racially segregated to pluralistic (e.g. South Africa), secular to religious (e.g., Turkey), internationally isolated to globally interconnected (e.g., China), bicultural to multicultural (e.g., Canada), and at peace to wartime status (e.g., United States).  We identify the substantive and stylistic features common to the psychological ethics codes of these countries in political transition and compare them to the principles of the Universal Declaration of Ethical Principles for Psychologists, adopted by the International Union of Psychological Science (IUPsyS) and International Association of Applied Psychology (IAAP) as a moral framework to guide the development of national codes of ethics in psychology.  We conclude with a list of lingering questions about the relationship between political transitions and ethics codes in psychology that may serve to direct future research on this overlooked topic.