The search for more effective national and global institutions which protect human rights and cultural diversity and work together towards political stability, peace and social and economic development should be unrelenting. The thesis of this article is that the study of developments in supra-nationalism and communitarianism in the European Union (EU),' apart from broadening knowledge and thus being worthy of inquiry for its own sake, provides useful insights at three levels of socio-political organisation: the international, the national and the regional.