Commonwealth of Nations

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

Benefits of membership and contemporary concerns

The Commonwealth has often been likened to an English gentlemen's club, and the issue of membership - who is and who is not a member of the organisation - 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.

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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 colonisation of parts of the Commonwealth by settlers from Britain. 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 United Kingdom's entry to the European Union, the Lomé Convention preserved some of the preferential access rights of Commonwealth goods to the UK market.

Related Topics:
European Union - Lomé Convention

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

Related Topics:
Realist - 21st Century - International organization - Western Europe - South America

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Britain has forged closer relationships with other European countries through the European Union; Britain's entry 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 Britain 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.

Related Topics:
1950s - 1960s - Human rights - Democratically-elected

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Some Commonwealth countries give Commonwealth citizens privileges that are not accorded to aliens: for example, in the United Kingdom, 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 where in some of the countries resident Commonwealth citizens may even be elected or appointed to the national legislature. However, these privileges are largely not on a reciprocal basis, and it is up to each country to decide what privileges it accords to Commonwealth citizenship, with the exception of the Commonwealth Scholarship. Other privileges that the United Kingdom grants Commonwealth citizens include access to immigration programmes such as the working holidaymaker visa. Some of the privileges offered by the individual countries have eroded over the last few decades, although most countries continue to afford special treatment in the area of immigration (e.g. right of abode in UK for some) and visas.

Related Topics:
Commonwealth Scholarship - Working holidaymaker visa - Right of abode in UK

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