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Flag of the Commonwealth
style="font-size: larger; margin-left: inherit;"|Commonwealth of Nations
Official languages English
Head of the Commonwealth Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II
Secretary-General His Excellency the Rt Hon. Don McKinnon (since 1999)
Deputy Secretary-General Ransford Smith
Established informally as "British" Commonwealth in 1926, the modern Commonwealth began in 1949.
Member states 53
Headquarters Westminster, London
Official site thecommonwealth.org

The Commonwealth of Nations, usually known as the Commonwealth, is an association of 53 independent sovereign states, almost all of which are former territories of the British Empire.

It was once known as the British Commonwealth of Nations or British Commonwealth, and some still call it by that name, either for historical reasons or to distinguish it from the other commonwealths around the world. **. The full name, Commonwealth of Nations, is sufficient to distinguish the Commonwealth from other commonwealths such as the Commonwealth of Independent States or the Commonwealth of Australia.

Queen Elizabeth II, who is the Head of State of 16 of the 53 Commonwealth Realms, is the Head of the Commonwealth, and as such is the symbol of the free association of its independent nation members. This title, however, does not imply any political power over such member nations, and does not automatically belong to the British monarch. In practice Elizabeth only "heads" the Commonwealth in a highly symbolic capacity, and it is the Commonwealth Secretary-General who is the active chief executive of the organisation.

The Commonwealth is primarily an organisation in which countries with diverse economic backgrounds have an opportunity for close and equal interaction. The primary activities of the Commonwealth are designed to create an atmosphere of economic co-operation between member nations, as well as the promotion of democracy, human rights, and good governance in those nations.

The Commonwealth is not a political union of any sort, and does not allow the United Kingdom (UK) to exercise any power over the affairs of the organisation's other members. While sixteen nations of the Commonwealth, known as Commonwealth Realms, recognise the British Monarch as their separate head of state, the majority do not.

Origin

Although performing a vastly different function, the Commonwealth is the successor of the British Empire. In 1884, whilst visiting Adelaide, South Australia, Lord Rosebery described the changing British Empire, as some of its colonies became more independent, as a "Commonwealth of Nations".

British Empire weakens

Conferences of British and colonial Prime Ministers had occurred periodically since 1887, leading to the creation of the Imperial Conferences in the late 1920s. The formal organization of the Commonwealth developed from the Imperial Conferences, where the independence of the self-governing colonies and especially of dominions was recognized, particularly in the Balfour Declaration at the Imperial Conference in 1926, when the UK and its dominions agreed they were "equal in status, in no way subordinate one to another in any aspect of their domestic or external affairs, though united by common allegiance to the Crown, and freely associated as members of the British Commonwealth of Nations". This relationship was eventually formalised by the Statute of Westminster in 1931.

Many members gain independence

After World War II, the Empire was gradually dismantled, partly owing to the rise of independence movements in the then-subject territories (such as that started in India under the influence of Mohandas Gandhi and Subhash Chandra Bose), and partly owing to the British Government's strained circumstances resulting from the cost of the war. The word "British" was dropped in 1946 from the title of the Commonwealth to reflect the changing position. Burma (1948), and Aden (1967) are the only former colonies not to have joined the Commonwealth upon independence. Among the former protectorates and mandates, Egypt (1953), Sudan (1956) Israel (1948), Iraq (1932), Bahrain (1971), Qatar (1971), United Arab Emirates (1971), Jordan (1946), Kuwait (1961) and Oman (1971) never became members of the Commonwealth. The Republic of Ireland left the Commonwealth upon becoming a republic in 1949. However, the Ireland Act 1949 passed by the Parliament of Westminster gave citizens of the Republic of Ireland a status similar to that of other citizens of the Commonwealth in UK law.

Republics as members

The issue of republican status within the Commonwealth was resolved in April 1949 at a Commonwealth prime ministers' meeting in London. India agreed that when it became a republic in January 1950 it would accept the King as "symbol of the free association of its independent member nations and as such Head of the Commonwealth". The other Commonwealth countries in turn recognised India's continuing membership of the association. (At Pakistan’s insistence, India was not regarded as an exceptional case and it was assumed that other states would be accorded the same treatment as India.) The London Declaration is often seen as marking the beginning of the modern Commonwealth.

Old, New and White Commonwealth

As the Commonwealth grew, the UK and pre-1945 Dominions (a term formally dropped in the 1940s) became informally known as the "Old Commonwealth", particularly since the 1960s when some of them disagreed with poorer, African and Asian (or New Commonwealth) members about various issues at Commonwealth Heads of Government meetings. Accusations that the old, "White" Commonwealth had different interests from African Commonwealth nations in particular, and charges of racism and colonialism, arose during heated debates about Rhodesia in the 1970s, the imposition of sanctions against apartheid-era South Africa in the 1980s and, more recently, about whether to press for democratic reforms in Nigeria and then Zimbabwe. The term New Commonwealth is also used in the United Kingdom (especially in the 1960s and 1970s) to refer to recently decolonised countries, which are predominantly non-white and underdeveloped. It was often used in debates about immigration from these countries.

In recent years, the term "White Commonwealth" has been used in a derogatory sense to imply that the wealthier, white nations of the Commonwealth had different interests and goals from the non-white, and particularly the African members. Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe has used the term frequently to allege that the Commonwealth's attempts to catalyse political changes in his country is motivated by racism and colonialist attitudes and that the White Commonwealth dominates the Commonwealth of Nations as a whole.

Membership

The Commonwealth encompasses a population of approximately 1.975 billion people in 53 countries, making up about 31% of the world's population. The total GDP is about 7.8 trillion US dollars (about 16% of the total world economy). The land area of the Commonwealth nations is about 12.1 million square miles (about 21% of the total world land area).

The four largest Commonwealth nations by population are India at 1,100 million, Pakistan at 159 million, Bangladesh at 141 million, and Nigeria at 137 million.

The three largest Commonwealth nations by area are Canada at 3.8 million square miles, Australia at 3.0 million square miles, and India at 714 thousand square miles.

The four largest economies are India at 2,600 billion US dollars, the United Kingdom at 1,500 billion US dollars, Canada at 930 billion US dollars, and Australia at 520 billion US dollars. (On a purchasing power parity basis from the CIA world factbook 2005).

The largest military spenders are the United Kingdom at 32 billion US dollars, Australia at 18 billion US dollars, India at 12 billion US dollars, and Canada at 7.9 billion US dollars. The Commonwealth of Nations is in no way a military alliance.

Tuvalu is the smallest member, with only 11,000 people.

Membership is open to countries that accept the association's basic aims and have a present or past constitutional link to a Commonwealth member. Not all members have had direct constitutional ties to the UK: some South Pacific countries were formerly under Australian or New Zealand administration, while Namibia was governed by South Africa from 1920 until independence in 1990. Cameroon joined in 1995 although only a fraction of its territory had formerly been under British administration through the League of Nations mandate of 1920–46 and United Nations Trusteeship arrangement of 1946–61. There is only one member of the present Commonwealth which has never had any constitutional link to the British Empire or a Commonwealth member. Mozambique, a former Portuguese colony, was admitted in 1995 on the back of the triumphal re-admission of South Africa and Mozambique's first democratic elections, held in 1994. The move was supported by Mozambique's neighbours, all of whom were members of the Commonwealth and who wished to offer assistance in overcoming the losses incurred from the country's opposition to white minority regimes in Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) and South Africa. In 1997, amid some discontent, Commonwealth Heads of Government agreed that Mozambique's admission should be seen as a special case and not set a precedent.

Non-members

Non-applicants

Tongue in cheek, Charles de Gaulle twice suggested that France, although it was never a member of the British Empire (even if for centuries English/British monarchs claimed the title 'King of France'), should apply for Commonwealth membership. This idea was never realised, but might be seen as a follow-up to a proposal made by Churchill to join the British and legitimate French governments during World War II, in opposition to the puppet regime of Vichy France.

David Ben-Gurion suggested that Israel join the Commonwealth, but this proposal was opposed by most Israelis for suggesting dependence upon the UK, and by the organisation as suggesting a firmer support for Israel than it actually offered.

Egypt and Iraq have never shown an interest in joining the Commonwealth, although they are eligible to do so, having histories of British rule. Bahrain, Kuwait, Jordan, and Oman similarly are not members.

In North America, the original 13 British colonies (four of which were since subdivided) which successfully fought the United Kingdom for their independence in the American Revolutionary War possess the requisite history of British rule; but they are now member-states of the United States of America. On the west coast of the USA, Washington State and Oregon were first explored by Captain George Vancouver. The island State of Hawaii was discovered by Captain James Cook in 1788 on his third voyage. The Union Jack was added to the Hawaiian flag in 1816 as the British gradually took control of the islands.* This political allegiance mitigates serious consideration of the USA applying for Commonwealth membership. Nevertheless, the UK maintains close cultural and political ties with the USA apart from the Commonwealth.

Similarly, the strong links between the British throne and Hanover in Germany would allow for potential German membership of the Commonwealth. This seems equally unlikely.

Hong Kong could not join the Commonwealth following the end of British rule in 1997, as it became a special administrative region of the People's Republic of China.

Other countries with historical links to the United Kingdom that could be potential Commonwealth members, but have shown no indication of a wish to join, include Nepal, Afghanistan, Qatar, Ireland and the United Arab Emirates.

Current and possible future applicants

Palestine and Yemen have applied to join the Commonwealth, and if a Civil Administration takes power in Myanmar (Burma) it might also apply.

It has also been suggested that Israel, Jordan and Algeria might consider joining, while the Republic of Ireland could rejoin. While a number of Irish politicians, notably Irish cabinet minister Éamon Ó Cuiv (a grandson of Éamon de Valera), have advocated rejoining, and the government of Seán Lemass considered doing so in the 1960s,Lemass in the mid 1960s had his Minister for Justice Brian Lenihan raise the issue. Lenihan described his actions and "flying a kite" to gauge the public reaction. In the aftermath of the fiftieth anniversary of the Easter Rising the idea was controversial and was dropped. It has been raised since by among other John M. Kelly (Minister for Foreign Affairs July-October 1981) and by Lenihan again in the late 1980s. the current Taoiseach, Bertie Ahern has suggested that it is unlikely to happen.

Should Somaliland and Southern Sudan gain independence or international recognition it is likely they will want to join the Commonwealth too. Any internationally recognised split of the island of Cyprus might also see both the Greek and Turkish halves of the island as Commonwealth members (currently Cyprus is officially a unitary member of the Commonwealth).

Two nations with no historical links to the British Empire--Rwanda and Cambodia--have also applied to join, but their accession seems unlikely.

The various remaining territories and dependencies of Great Britain and several other Commonwealth countries would almost certainly gain admission to the Commonwealth in their own right should they become independent. These include Bermuda, Pitcairn, the Falkland Islands, the Cayman Islands, Saint Helena, South Georgia, British Indian Ocean Territory, the Turks and Caicos Islands, Anguilla, Tokelau, Norfolk Island, Nauru, the Cook Islands, the Cocos Islands, Niue, Christmas Island, Jersey, Guernsey, and the Isle of Man.

The four nations which comprise the United Kingdom (England, Scotland, Northern Ireland, and Wales) have in recent years moved towards a more federal style of relationship. It is not impossible that these four nations may eventually be completely independent. Similarly, the island of Nevis, currently part of Saint Kitts and Nevis, may eventually separate from its larger neighbour. These would all be potential Commonwealth members in their own right.

Suspension

In recent years the Commonwealth has suspended several members "from the Councils of the Commonwealth" for failure to uphold democratic government. Suspended members are not represented at meetings of Commonwealth leaders and ministers, although they remain members of the organisation.

Fiji, which had ceased to be a member of the Commonwealth 1987–1997 as a result of a republican coup d'etat, was suspended 2000–2001, after a military coup, as was Pakistan from 1999 until 2004.

Nigeria was suspended between 1995 and 1999.

Zimbabwe was suspended in 2002 over concerns with the electoral and land reform policies of Robert Mugabe's Zanu-PF government, before withdrawing from the organisation in 2003. It had previously been suspended from the Commonwealth under the country's former name of Rhodesia from its unilateral declaration of independence in 1964 until its internationally-recognised independence as Zimbabwe in 1980.

Withdrawal

As membership is purely voluntary, member governments can choose at any time to leave the Commonwealth. Pakistan left the Commonwealth in 1972 in protest at Commonwealth recognition of breakaway Bangladesh, but rejoined in 1989. Zimbabwe left the Commonwealth in 2003 when Commonwealth Heads of Government refused to lift the country's suspension on the grounds of human rights violations and deliberate misgovernment.

Other termination

Although Heads of Government have the power to suspend member states from active participation, the Commonwealth has no provision for the expulsion of members. However, Commonwealth Realms which become republics automatically cease to be members, unless (like India in 1950) they obtain the permission of other members to remain in the organisation as a republic.

The Republic of Ireland did not apply for re-admittance after becoming a republic in 1949, as the Commonwealth then did not allow republican membership. But the leader of its Opposition at the time, Eamon de Valera, believed that this was a mistake, and he and his successor as Taoiseach, Sean Lemass, both considered re-applying. Éamon Ó Cuív, a minister in the present Irish Government (and himself de Valera's grandson), raised the issue of the Republic's possible reapplication a number of times in the 1990s. But the issue arouses both hostility and indifference in Ireland, where many people still associate the Commonwealth with British imperialism, even though the majority of member states are now republics. The Republic of Ireland was the first nation ever to leave the Commonwealth and not rejoin.

South Africa was prevented from continuing as a member after it became a republic in 1961, due to hostility from many members, particularly those in Africa and Asia as well as Canada, to its policy of apartheid. The South African government withdrew its application to remain in the organisation as a republic when it became clear at the 1961 Commonwealth Prime Ministers Conference that any such application would be rejected. South Africa was re-admitted to the Commonwealth in 1994, following the end of apartheid in 1990.

The Maldives left the Commonwealth in 1965 after unilaterally declaring their independence from the United Kingdom; they were re-admitted to the Commonwealth on 9 July 1982.

The declaration of a republic in the Fiji Islands in 1987, after military coups designed to deny Indo-Fijians political power in Fiji, was not accompanied by application to remain. Commonwealth membership was held to have lapsed until 1997, after racist provisions in the republican constitution were repealed and reapplication for membership made.

Hong Kong ceased to be a member after the 1997 handover of British rule to China.

Organisation and objectives

Queen Elizabeth II is the nominal Head of the Commonwealth. Some members of the Commonwealth, known as Commonwealth Realms, also recognise the Queen as their head of state. However, the majority of members are republics, and a handful of others are indigenous monarchies. The Queen's position as Head of the Commonwealth is not hereditary, and when and if the present Prince of Wales becomes King, it will be for Commonwealth Heads of Government to decide whether he assumes the role of Head of the Commonwealth.

Since 1965 there has been a London-based Secretariat. The current (2005) Commonwealth Secretary-General is Don McKinnon, a former Foreign Minister of New Zealand. The organisation is celebrated each year on Commonwealth Day, the second Monday in March.

The Commonwealth has long been distinctive as an international forum where highly developed economies (the UK, Australia, Canada, New Zealand) and many of the world's poorer countries seek to reach agreement by consensus. This aim has sometimes been difficult to achieve, as when disagreements over Rhodesia in the 1970s and over apartheid in South Africa in the 1980s led to a cooling of relations between the UK and African members.

The main decision-making forum of the organisation is the biennial Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM), where Commonwealth presidents or prime ministers assemble for several days to discuss matters of mutual interest. CHOGM is the successor to the Prime Ministers' Conferences and earlier Imperial Conferences and Colonial Conferences dating back to 1887. There are also regular meetings of finance ministers, law ministers, health ministers, etc.

The most important statement of the Commonwealth's principles is the 1991 Harare Declaration, which dedicated the organisation to democracy and good government, and allowed for action to be taken against members who breached these principles. Before then the Commonwealth's collective actions had been limited by the principle of non-interference in the internal affairs of other members.

Every four years the Commonwealth's members celebrate the Commonwealth Games, a multi-sport event similar to the Olympic Games.

Benefits of membership and contemporary concerns

The Commonwealth has often been likened to an English gentlemen's club, and the issue of who is and who is not a member often seems to be more important, and certainly attracts much more attention, than what the organisation actually does. This is because the main benefit of membership is the opportunity for close and relatively frequent interaction, on an informal and equal basis, between members who share many ties of language, culture, and history.

In its early days, the Commonwealth also constituted a significant economic bloc. Commonwealth countries accorded each others' goods privileged access to their markets ("Commonwealth Preference"), and there was a free or preferred right of migration from one Commonwealth country to another. These rights have been steadily eroded, but their consequences remain. Within most Commonwealth countries, there are substantial communities with family ties to other members of the Commonwealth, going beyond the effects of the original colonization of parts of the Commonwealth by settlers from the British Isles. Furthermore, consumers in Commonwealth countries retain many preferences for goods from other members of the Commonwealth, so that even in the absence of tariff privileges, there continues to be more trade within the Commonwealth than might be predicted. On the UK's entry to the European Community, the Lomé Convention preserved some of the preferential access rights of Commonwealth goods to the UK market.

But in recent decades there has been a mutual decline of interest in maintaining active inter-Commonwealth relations, and the organisation's direct political and economic importance has declined. Realist critics have argued that in the 21st Century the organisation is an inherently arbitrary alliance with members that are united only through a historical accident of British colonialism. They argue that the organisation lacks a balanced membership, and point out that it is very unusual for any international organisation to exclude highly important regions of the world such as most of Western Europe and South America from membership. Indeed, many Commonwealth members look increasingly to regional partners, non-Commonwealth as well as Commonwealth, to form their most important alliances.

The UK has forged closer relationships with other European countries through the European Union; this was widely felt as a betrayal by citizens of the "Old Commonwealth" whose economies had been developed on the assumption of access to British markets. Similarly, former British colonies have forged closer relationships with non-Commonwealth trading partners and closer geographic neighbours. Reaction to immigration from the new Commonwealth countries into the UK in the 1950s and early 1960s led to the restriction of the right of migration. The Commonwealth today mainly restricts itself to encouraging community between nations and to placing moral pressure on members who violate international laws, such as human rights laws, and abandon democratically-elected government. Key activities today include training experts in developing countries and assisting with and monitoring elections.

Some Commonwealth countries give Commonwealth citizens privileges that are not accorded to aliens. For example, in the UK the right to vote is given to all Commonwealth citizens resident in that country. This is reciprocated mainly in the Commonwealth Caribbean, even to the point that in some countries (including the UK) resident Commonwealth citizens may even be elected or appointed to the national legislature. But these privileges are largely not reciprocal, and it is up to each country to decide what privileges it accords to Commonwealth citizenship, except for the Commonwealth Scholarship. Other privileges that the UK grants Commonwealth citizens include access to immigration programmes such as the working holidaymaker visa. Some privileges offered by individual countries have eroded over the last few decades, but most countries continue to afford special treatment for immigration (e.g. right of abode in UK for some) and visas.

Cultural links

The Commonwealth is also useful as an international organisation that represents significant cultural and historical links between wealthy first-world countries and poorer nations with diverse social and religious backgrounds. The common inheritance of the English language and literature, the common law, and British systems of administration all underpin the club-like atmosphere of the Commonwealth.

Mostly due to their history of British rule, many Commonwealth nations share certain identifiable traditions and customs that are elements of a shared Commonwealth culture. Examples include common sports such as cricket and rugby, driving on the left, parliamentary and legal traditions, and the use of British rather than American spelling conventions (see Commonwealth English). None of these is universal within the Commonwealth countries, nor exclusive to them, but all of them are more common in the Commonwealth than elsewhere.

Commonwealth countries share many links outside government, with over a hundred Commonwealth-wide non-governmental organisations, notably for sport, culture, education and charity. A multi-sports championship called the Commonwealth Games is held every four years, in the same year as the Winter Olympic Games. As well as the usual athletic disciplines, the games include sports popular in the Commonwealth such as bowls. The Association of Commonwealth Universities is an important vehicle for academic links, particularly through scholarships, principally the Commonwealth Scholarship, for students to study in universities in other Commonwealth countries. There are also many non-official associations that bring together individuals who work within the spheres of law and government, such as the Commonwealth Lawyers Association and the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association.

In recent years the Commonwealth model has inspired similar initiatives on the part of France, Spain and Portugal and their respective ex-colonies, and in the former case, other sympathetic governments: the organisation internationale de la Francophonie , the "Comunidad Iberoamericana de Naciones" (Organization of Ibero-American States) and the Comunidade dos Países de Língua Portuguesa (Community of Portuguese-speaking countries).

Literature

The shared history of British rule has also produced a substantial body of writing in many languages - Commonwealth literature. There is an Association for Commonwealth Literature and Language Studies (ACLALS) with nine chapters worldwide. ACLALS holds an international conference every three years. The 13th Triennial was held in Hyderabad, India, in August 2004; the next will be held in 2007 in Calgary, Canada.

In 1987, the Commonwealth Foundation established the Commonwealth Writers Prize "to encourage and reward the upsurge of new Commonwealth fiction and ensure that works of merit reach a wider audience outside their country of origin." Caryl Phillips won the Commonwealth Writers Prize 2004 for A Distant Shore. Mark Haddon won the Commonwealth Writers Prize 2004 Best First Book prize worth £3,000 for The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time.

Although not affiliated with the Commonwealth in an official manner, the prestigious Booker Prize is awarded annually to an author from a Commonwealth country or the Republic of Ireland. This honour is one of the highest in literature.

Commonwealth Business Council

The Commonwealth Business Council (CBC) was formed at the Edinburgh CHOGM in 1997. The aim was to utilise the global network of the Commonwealth more effectively for the promotion of global trade and investment for shared prosperity.

The CBC acts as a bridge for cooperation between business and government, concentrating efforts on these specific areas:

Commonwealth countries are major stakeholders in the process and success of the Doha Development Agenda. Together the 53 member countries account for 30% of the world’s population, 25% of international trade and investment, and 40% of WTO membership.

CBC’s trade development objectives include encouraging trade facilitation and further liberalisation of services; encouraging developing countries to play an active role in the WTO, and in new trade rounds, by maximising their negotiating strength through cooperative action.

The CBC helps to mobilise investment into Commonwealth countries through measures including ensuring access to international capital markets; strengthening 26 domestic capital markets; encouraging regional integration; committing the private sector to work together with governments to help achieve a successful market economy for generating investment.

A key feature of CBC is its global membership, comprising corporate members from both developed and developing countries. This gives CBC the capacity to make a special contribution to the debate on corporate citizenship, dominated by developed countries.

The CBC has been working to involve the private sector in facilitating the implementation of an Information Communications Technologies for Development programme. The CBC programme enhances collaborative partnerships between the various stakeholders including governments, private sector, donor agencies and civil society. Major goals include:

  • Bridge the digital divide for social and economic development.
  • Promote ICT for development in Commonwealth countries.
  • Promote an experience exchange among stakeholders in Commonwealth countries.
  • Promote business and government cooperation for development.
  • Create awareness and enhance the knowledge of policy makers about economic, technical and legal aspects of implementation of ICT for development.
  • Provide and facilitate training and capacity building.

CBC believes that there remains a significant gap for independent support to emerging market governments in the structuring and transacting of ICT infrastructure opportunities. The key CBC objectives are:

  • Examine how support from highly experienced individuals can assist through the creation of an infrastructure technical advisory unit.
  • Provide senior-level government support to provide focused advice.
  • Provide mechanisms that will help governments leverage the huge capacity of the private sector to address the demand for better infrastructure.

The CBC has a dedicated team, CBC Technologies, based in London and focused on the international technology and global services industry throughout the Commonwealth.

Footnotes

List of Commonwealth members

See also

Other organizations:

References

  • The Constitutional Structure of the Commonwealth, by K C Wheare. Clarendon Press, 1960. ISBN 0313236240

Further reading

  • The Commonwealth in the World, by J D B Miller. Harvard University Press, 1965. ISBN 0674147006
  • The Commonwealth Experience: From British to Multiracial Commonwealth, by N Mansergh. University of Toronto Press, 1982. ISBN 0802024920
  • Making the New Commonwealth, by R J Moore. Clarendon Press, 1988. ISBN 0198201125

External links

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This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the "Commonwealth of Nations".

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