As the twentieth century draws to a close, Europe is the scene of what would appear to be two diametrically opposed processes of political development. We are witnessing the development of a European superstate in the West, while in the East we see the fragmentation of a major political and military alliance. Some six centuries ago, in a very different Europe, Thomas Aquinas argued that, because human beings live and act in society, there must exist some means whereby the group or society may be governed for the common good, so that it does not degenerate into a collection of people each concerned only with his own interests1. My purpose is to examine what contribution the thought of Aquinas may have to make towards an understanding of what is happening in Europe at the present time.

A number of preliminary questions may be formulated:

1. a Do both of the political processes described above reflect a search for a better way of achieving the common good and attaining the common end of man?

2. b Are these apparently opposing trends in fact in opposition, or are they simply different stages of the same development?

3. c Can they both be interpreted as positive in terms of their likely contribution to the common good?