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An association comprising the United Kingdom, its dependencies, and many former British colonies that are now sovereign states with a common allegiance to the British Crown, including Canada, Australia, India, and many countries in the West Indies and Africa. It was formally established by the Statute of Westminster in 1931.
For more information on Commonwealth, visit Britannica.com.
The present Commonwealth comprises Britain and most of her old empire: 54 states, scattered over all the inhabited continents, with a population estimated (in 1994) at 1.4 billion. Mozambique, not a former British colony, was admitted as a special case in 1995.
The term ‘commonwealth’, in this context, dates from the early 20th cent., and grew out of the realization that several of Britain's older-established colonies were already self-governing in all essential respects. To call them ‘colonies’, or an ‘empire’, appeared to undervalue their real independence, and the new word was felt by some to express better the form the empire would take: a federation of equal nation states. This development was not to everyone's liking, however. Enthusiasts for the ‘commonwealth ideal’ had generally envisaged the dominions taking an equal share in the formulation of policies that would then be common to them all: instead it came to mean that they would have equal rights to separate policies of their own.
This privilege was established in the early 1920s, after disputes within the Commonwealth over the Washington naval conference of 1921-2 and the Chanak affair in 1922. In 1923 Canada became the first dominion to conclude a treaty with a foreign power (the Halibut Fish treaty) without reference to Britain; and the pattern for the future was set. It was formalized by an important pronouncement of the 1926 imperial conference, defining dominion status; and by the 1931 statute of Westminster, which confirmed the dominions' legislative autonomy. For the moment this only applied to colonies of European settlement, and not to the ‘non-white’ colonies. That changed in 1947, when the newly independent nation of India was admitted to the Commonwealth. That established the multiracial character of the Commonwealth as it exists today.
As decolonization progressed, other ex-colonies followed. Many old imperialists regarded this process with pride. Some of them saw the new Commonwealth as the culmination of the empire. In a way it was, for there had always been a strong tradition of what was called ‘trusteeship’ in British imperial thought. The idea that the Commonwealth could be a kind of empire-substitute, however, was soon shattered. The newest members regarded their hard-won national independence jealously, and there were sharp clashes between members, especially over the issue of apartheid, which forced South Africa to leave in 1961. So the Commonwealth became much less than the united ‘third force’ in the world that the imperial optimists had envisaged.
As it stands now, it is totally unlike any other international organization of states. It has a secretariat, and a secretary-general (set up in 1965), but little else in common. It has no power, no united policy, no common principles, and no shared institutions. Most member states are parliamentary democracies, but not all. Most have retained English legal forms, but not all. Most play cricket, but not all. The single constitutional feature common to all member states is that they acknowledge the British monarch as symbolic head of the Commonwealth, but fewer than half recognize her or him as the head of their own states. It was once thought of as an economic unit, a potential free (or preferential) trade area, but that was never convincing, and collapsed when Britain joined the European Economic Community in 1973.
Nevertheless the Commonwealth still serves a purpose, as a forum for informal discussion and co-operation between nations of widely disparate cultures. That function is served by a host of specialist Commonwealth institutions (the Commonwealth Institute in London, the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association, the Association of Commonwealth Universities, the Commonwealth of Learning); and by biennial conferences of Commonwealth heads of government. The ideal it represents still flickers, albeit fitfully.
The purpose of the Commonwealth is consultation and cooperation. The sovereign members retain full authority in all domestic and foreign affairs, although Britain generally enjoys a traditional position of leadership in certain matters of mutual interest. There are economic ties in the fields of trade, investment, and development programs for new nations. A set of trade agreements (begun at the Ottawa Conference in 1932) between Britain and the other members gave preferential tariff treatment to many raw materials and manufactured goods that the Commonwealth nations sell in Britain, but the system of preferential tariffs was abandoned after Britain's entry into the European Community (now the European Union) in 1973. Periodically there are meetings of Commonwealth heads of government, but no collective decision made at these meetings is considered binding. In 1965 a Commonwealth secretariat was established, with headquarters in London.
See also British Empire.
Bibliography
See J. D. B. Miller, The Commonwealth in the World (3d ed. 1965); N. Mansergh, The Commonwealth Experience (1969); W. R. Louis, The British Empire in the Middle East (1986); The Commonwealth Office Yearbook (annual, from 1987); R. J. Moore, Making the New Commonwealth (1987).
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Commonwealth of Nations
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The Commonwealth of Nations as of 2006
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| Headquarters | Marlborough House, London, UK | |||
| Official languages | English | |||
| Membership | 53 sovereign states | |||
| Leaders | ||||
| - | Head of the Commonwealth | Queen Elizabeth II | ||
| - | Secretary-General | Don McKinnon (since 1 April 2000) | ||
| Establishment | ||||
| - | Balfour Declaration | 18 November 1926 | ||
| - | Statute of Westminster | 11 December 1931 | ||
| - | London Declaration | 28 April 1949 | ||
| Area | ||||
| - | Total | km² sq mi |
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| Population | ||||
| - | 2005 estimate | 1,921,974,000 | ||
| - | Density | 61.09/km² /sq mi |
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| Website thecommonwealth.org |
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The Commonwealth of Nations, usually known as the Commonwealth and sometimes as the British Commonwealth, is a voluntary association of 53 independent sovereign states, most of which are former British colonies (the exceptions being the United Kingdom itself and Mozambique).
The Commonwealth is an international organisation through which countries with diverse social, political, and economic backgrounds cooperate within a framework of common values and goals, outlined in the Singapore Declaration.[1] These include the promotion of democracy, human rights, good governance, the rule of law, individual liberty, egalitarianism, free trade, multilateralism, and world peace.[2]
Queen Elizabeth II is the current Head of the Commonwealth, recognised by each state, and as such is the symbol of the free association of the organisation's members. This position, however, does not imply political power over Commonwealth member states. In practice, the Queen heads the Commonwealth in a symbolic capacity, and it is the Commonwealth Secretary-General who is the chief executive of the organisation. The Commonwealth is not a political union, and does not allow the United Kingdom to exercise any power over the affairs of the organisation's other members.
Elizabeth II is also the current Head of State, separately, of sixteen members of the Commonwealth, called Commonwealth realms. As each realm is an independent kingdom, Elizabeth II, as monarch, holds a distinct title for each, though, by a Prime Ministers' Conference in 1952, all include the words "Head of the Commonwealth" at the end; for example: Elizabeth the Second, by the Grace of God, Queen of Jamaica and of Her other Realms and Territories, Head of the Commonwealth. Beyond the realms, the majority of the members of the Commonwealth have their own, separate Heads of State: thirty-two members are Commonwealth republics and five members have their own monarchs (Brunei, Lesotho, Malaysia, Swaziland, and Tonga).
Every four years the Commonwealth's members celebrate the Commonwealth Games, the world's second-largest multi-sport event after the Olympic Games.
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".
Conferences of British and colonial Prime Ministers had occurred periodically since 1887, leading to the creation of the Imperial Conferences in the late 1920s.[3] The formal organisation of the Commonwealth developed from the Imperial Conferences, where the independence of the self-governing colonies and especially of dominions was recognised, particularly in the Balfour Declaration at the Imperial Conference in 1926, when Britain 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.
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 Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru, Subhash Chandra Bose, Bhagat Singh, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel and Muhammad Ali Jinnah), and partly owing to the British Government's strained circumstances resulting from the cost of the war. The word "British" was dropped in 1949 from the title of the Commonwealth to reflect the changing position.[4] Myanmar (formerly 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 (independent in 1922), Iraq (1932), Transjordan (1946), Palestine (became in part, the state of Israel in 1948), Sudan (1956), Kuwait (1961), Bahrain (1971), Oman (1971), Qatar (1971), and the United Arab Emirates (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.
The issue of countries with constitutional structures that did not operate based on the shared Crown, but who wished to remain members of the Commonwealth, was resolved in April 1949 at a Commonwealth prime ministers' meeting in London. Under the London Declaration, 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, and following India's precedent, other nations moved to become republics, or constitutional monarchies under a different Royal House.
As the Commonwealth grew, Britain 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 1960s and 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.[citation needed] 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.[citation needed]
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 force 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.[citation needed]
There have been attempts made by groups such as the United Commonwealth Society to unite the commonwealth and provide closer ties both culturally and economically, starting with the "White Commonwealth" and expanding to include other nations within the commonwealth generally.[citation needed]
The criteria for membership of the Commonwealth of Nations have developed over time from a series of separate documents. The Statute of Westminster 1931, as the fundamental founding document of the organisation, laid out that membership required dominionhood. The 1949 London Declaration ended this, allowing republican and indigenous monarchic members on the condition that they recognised the British monarch as the 'Head of the Commonwealth'.[5] In the wake of the wave of decolonisation in the 1960s, these constitutional principles were augmented by political, economic, and social principles. The first of these was set out in 1961, when it was decided that respect for racial equality would be a requisite of membership, leading directly to the withdrawal of South Africa's re-application (which they were required to make under the formula of the London Declaration upon becoming a republic). The fourteen points of the 1971 Singapore Declaration dedicated all members to the principles of world peace, liberty, human rights, equality, and free trade.[2]
These criteria were unenforceable for two decades,[6] until, in 1991, the Harare Declaration was issued, dedicating the leaders to applying the Singapore principles to the completion of decolonisation, the end of the Cold War, and the fall of Apartheid in South Africa.[7] The mechanisms by which these principles would be applied were created, and the manner clarified, by the 1995 Millbrook Commonwealth Action Programme, which created the Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group (CMAG), which has the power to rule on whether members meet the requirements for membership under the Harare Declaration.[8] Also in 1995, an Inter-Governmental Group was created to finalise and codify the full requirements for membership. Upon reporting in 1997, as adopted under the Edinburgh Declaration, the Inter-Governmental Group ruled that any future members would have to have a direct constitutional link with an existing member.[9]
In addition to this new rule, the former rules were consolidated into a single document. These requirements, which remain the same today, are that members must:
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These requirements are undergoing review, and a report on potential amendment is to be presented to the 2007 Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting.[10]
Countries whose membership is currently suspended are shown in Bold text.
Note: The table can be sorted alphabetically or chronologically using the "><" icon.
1 Left 1987, rejoined 1997, suspended since 2006.
2 Special member status 1968 to 1999, again since 2006.
3 Suspended between 1995 and 1999.
4 Left 1972, rejoined 1989, suspended between 1999 and 2004.
5 Left 1961, rejoined 1994.
The Commonwealth comprises fifty-three, or almost a quarter, of the world's countries and has a combined population of 1.9 billion people, about a quarter of the world population and over twice as many as the whole of the Americas (North and South) put together. Of the 1.9 billion people, 1.4 billion live in the Indian Subcontinent, and 93% live in Asia or Africa.
The total GDP is about US$7.8 trillion (about 16% of the total world economy).[citation needed] The land area of the Commonwealth nations is about 31.5 million km² (12.1 million square miles), or about 21% of the total world land area.
The five largest Commonwealth nations by population are India (1.1 billion), Pakistan (165 million), Bangladesh (148 m), Nigeria (137 m), and the United Kingdom (60 m). Tuvalu is the smallest member, with only 11,000 people.
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 1.2 million square miles.
The largest military spenders are the United Kingdom at GBP£33.4 billion (US$66.8 billion), India at GBP£10.6 billion (US$21 billion), and Australia and Canada at GBP£5.3 billion (US$10.5 billion) respectively.[citation needed] The Commonwealth of Nations is not a military alliance. See: List of countries by military expenditures.
Nauru joined as a Special Member, but was a full member from May 1999 to January 2006 when it reverted back. [11]
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 Britain: 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 that 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.[citation needed] Bangladesh (formerly East Pakistan) joined in 1972 in its own right after breaking away from Pakistan (formerly West Pakistan), which was a member until it left later in the same year.
Egypt, Myanmar and Iraq have never shown an interest in joining the Commonwealth, although they are eligible to do so, having histories of British rule. Sudan, Somalia, Eritrea, Bahrain, Kuwait, Jordan and Oman similarly are not members. Other countries with historical links to the United Kingdom or other Commonwealth countries that could theoretically be Commonwealth members, but have shown no indication of a wish to join, include Nepal, Bhutan, Afghanistan, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates.
Hong Kong, which became a special administrative region of the People's Republic of China following the end of British rule in 1997, did not join the Commonwealth.
The
France secretly considered membership in the 1950s, under the leadership of Prime Minister Guy Mollet. In the context of nationalisation of the Suez Canal, colonial unrest, and increasing tensions between British-backed Jordan and French-backed Israel, Mollet saw a union between Britain and France as a possible solution. A British Government document of the time reported "That the French would welcome a common citizenship arrangement on the Irish basis". The request was turned down by the British prime minister Anthony Eden, along with a request for Commonwealth membership, and a year later France signed the Treaty of Rome with Germany and the other founding nations of the Common Market, later to become the EU. [12]
Rwanda and Yemen have applied to join the Commonwealth, and there was some interest expressed by the Palestinian National Authority.[13] It has also been suggested that Jordan,[citation needed] Israel (being formerly administered by the United Kingdom), and Algeria might consider joining.[14]
Other eligible applicants could come from any of the remaining British overseas territories, Crown dependencies, Australian external territories and Associated States of New Zealand if any later become fully independent.[15] Many such jurisdictions are already directly represented within the Commonwealth, particularly through the Commonwealth Family.[16]
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 was not a member of the Commonwealth between 1987 and 1997 as a result of a republican coup d'état, was suspended in 2000–2001 after a military coup, as was Pakistan from 1999 until 2004. Fiji was suspended once again following the military coup of December 2006.[17]
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 1965 until its internationally recognised independence as Zimbabwe in 1980.
As membership is purely voluntary, member governments can choose at any time to leave the Commonwealth. Pakistan left in 1972 in protest at Commonwealth recognition of breakaway Bangladesh, but rejoined in 1989. Zimbabwe left in 2003 when Commonwealth Heads of Government refused to lift the country's suspension on the grounds of human rights violations and deliberate misgovernment.
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 that 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 left the Commonwealth when it became a republic, on 18 April 1949, after passing the Republic of Ireland Act 1948; because it preceded India's London Declaration, remaining in the Commonwealth was not an option. However, Ireland has not shown interest in being a member of the Commonwealth, as it would be seen as a step back to colonialism by the majority of the population.[citation needed]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 or
