HOW might one use Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274) to make a point about One World Government? Not that the Christian saint ever advocated as much, of course, but his theology still offers an interesting way of looking at how a system of this kind might operate in what often seems like a very complex and disordered world.

For Aquinas, God is the cause of all things. Whilst retaining the ability to intervene at any time, he argues, God nonetheless delegates some of his power to the extent that the world is seen to operate according to the “laws of nature”. At the same time, this secondary form of causality is not something which is separate from God but remains firmly attributable to God himself. Everything that happens within Creation, therefore, is ultimately dependent upon the Divine and he is the primary cause.

Although the Italian theologian developed a useful explanation for the day-to-day functioning of a world that is apparently capable of moderating itself in the way that a clock keeps time without the clockmaker having to personally oversee the precise operation of each individual part, his theory of secondary causation meant that the self-regulation of natural order was later perceived by some as an indication that God had effectively been marginalised and that the world was more than capable of managing itself.

Turning now to the idea of One World Government, there are those who dismiss the idea of a powerful elite on the basis that it would be impossible for a small group of people to control the national-states of the entire world and that things are simply too chaotic. I have even met people who insist that an individual state is something that has no kind of direction at all and that things have become so bureaucratic and mismanaged that each of these governmental structures has degenerated into a Frankenstein’s monster and thus become completely devoid of rhyme or reason. I find such a view completely illogical, particularly as there are some people who benefit from this alleged “chaos”. Not once, or twice, but on a consistent basis.

I prefer to look at the idea of One World Government in the way that Aquinas defined his secondary causation, imagining that whilst the powerful global elite that dominates the globe is performing the role of a “God,” it can allow for a secondary factor of causation through its many puppet-states and improvised political systems. But how can this shadowy cabal maintain its grip on power?

Whilst the God of Aquinas is said to be omnipotent, or all-powerful, the bridge that links the Divine to the “laws of nature” is that of omniscience, or the ability to observe all. In other words, the fact that the world is allowed to operate within certain parameters does not mean that it does so independently. Similarly, the relationship between the One World Government and its geographical satellites is maintained by the all-seeing eyes of political think-tanks, economic advisory boards and administrative quangos. Coupled with a societal climate in which public surveillance and policing are more intense than ever, the omnipotent powers-that-be are able to use their omniscience to control every aspect of our lives.