FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS (Last updated 1 May 2008) Compiled by Rupert Barnes.
For most of the information following I am most grateful to the Commonwealth Secretariat, albeit that they did not write or compile the page and would in all probability flip their collective lid at some of the things I have written.
1. What the Commonwealth is
2. The
member countries of the Commonwealth
3. The role
of Queen Elizabeth II
4. The criteria for
membership of the Commonwealth
5. The CHOGM
6. How the Commonwealth came about
7. What
power the Commonwealth has over its members?
8.
The Secretary General
9. What
official Commonwealth institutions are there?
10. What active "unofficial Comonwealth"
bodies are there?
11. Other sources of
information
It is sometimes called "the British Commonwealth". However, that name is no longer used officially. It is current in some lands of the "Old Commonwealth", but there is a danger that labelling the Commonwealth as British might cause offence by suggesting that the members owe a dependency on Britain. Sometimes the Commonwealth is referred to as the "Commonwealth of Nations". The accepted name though is just "The Commonwealth".
The dictionary definition of the Commonwealth would be that it is a free association of 53 independent countries, all accepting Queen Elizabeth II as Head of the Commonwealth. What that means in practice is quite another matter. It means something different to everybody. That indeed is what the newsgroup is all about.
Perhaps a better description of the Commonwealth is as a collective name for the nations and people within it, regardless of what political structures seeks to govern them, because the Commonwealth is about its people. There are many cultural differences but we find that we share so much more, something that comes from our shared history.
The Commonwealth's Member Countries (each with their year of joining) are:
Antigua & Barbuda (1981)
Australia (1931*)
Bahamas (1973)
Bangladesh (1973)
Barbados (1966)
Belize (1981)
Botswana (1966)
Brunei
Darassalam (1984)
Cameroon (1995. Independent 1960)
Canada (1931*)
Cyprus (1961.
Independent 1960)
Dominica (1978)
Fiji (1970, left 1987, rejoined
1997)
The Gambia (1965)
Ghana (1957)
Grenada (1974)
Guyana (1966)
India (1947)
Jamaica (1962)
Kenya (1963)
Kiribati (1979)
Lesotho (1966)
Malawi (1964)
Malaysia (1957)
Maldives (1982.
Independent 1965)
Malta (1964 )
Mauritius (1968)
Mozambique (1995.
Independent 1975)
Namibia (1990)
Nauru (1968) (special member)
New
Zealand (1931*)
Nigeria (1960)
Pakistan (1947, left 1972, rejoined
1989)
Papua New Guinea (1975)
Samoa (1970. Independent 1962)
St.
Kitts & Nevis (1983)
St. Lucia (1979)
St. Vincent & the
Grenadines (1979)
Seychelles (1976)
Sierra Leone (1961)
Singapore (1965)
Solomon
Islands (1978)
South Africa (1931*, left 1961, rejoined 1994)
Sri
Lanka (1948)
Swaziland (1968)
Tanzania (1961)
Tonga (1970)
Trinidad
& Tobago (1962)
Tuvalu (1978) (special member)
Uganda (1962)
The
United Kingdom
Vanuatu (1980)
Zambia (1964)
* The Statute of Westminster of 1931 gave legal effect to the independence enjoyed by the Dominions of Australia, Canada, New Zealand and South Africa, as well as Newfoundland (now a Canadian province) & the Irish Free State (now a republic outside the Commonwealth). Although Australia did not adopt the Statute until 1942 and New Zealand until 1947, their effective independence was as of 1931.
Of the above; 16 are kingdoms with HM Queen Elizabeth II as sovereign, namely:
Antigua & Barbuda, Australia, Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Canada, Grenada, Jamaica, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, St. Kitts & Nevis, St. Lucia, St. Vincent & the Grenadines, Solomon Islands, Tuvalu and The United Kingdom.
5 are national monarchies: Brunei Darussalam (a sultanate), Lesotho, Malaysia (with rotating, elective kingship), Swaziland and Tonga.
33 are republics: Bangladesh, Botswana, Cameroon, Cyprus, Dominica, Fiji, The Gambia, Ghana, Guyana, India, Kenya, Kiribati, Malawi, Maldives, Malta, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Nauru, Nigeria, Pakistan, Samoa, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Singapore, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Tanzania, Trinidad & Tobago, Uganda, Vanuatu, Zambia, Zimbabwe.
(Fiji has long talked of restoring the monarchy, but has not got around to it.)
Her Majesty is the Head of the Commonwealth. Her Majesty is also queen of 16 Commonwealth countries. The role of "Head of the Commonwealth" is generally a symbolic one. The Head of the Commonwealth is the symbol of the free association of nations.
The Commonwealth has no written provisions for the admission of new members nor any written criteria for membership. Consideration for membership has taken the form of procedures which have evolved over time.
All members, with one exception, have had a past association with another Commonwealth country, as colonies, protectorates or trust territories.
An exception is Mozambique whose application in November 1995 was accepted "in recognition of Mozambique's unique historical relationship with the Commonwealth in the struggle against the apartheid regime of the old South Africa". (More cynically it could be justified because Mozambique is now practically a South African protectorate.) Heads of Government stressed that Mozambique was an exceptional case and was not a precedent. Generally, an application for membership must command broad-based support in the country concerned and be made to the Commonwealth Secretary-General, who consults all Heads of Government.
In 1993, Heads of Government indicated that Commonwealth values, principles and priorities, as set out in the Harare Commonwealth Declaration, 1991, should be taken into consideration. A decision on whether to admit to membership is reached on the basis of consensus by Heads of Government. For the future the 1995 CHOGM asked that an intergovernmental group on criteria for Commonwealth membership be set up to advise them on criteria for assessing future applications. This group reported to the heads of government at the 1997 CHOGM.
This is the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting. It takes place every two years. The 2007 CHOGM took place in Kampala, Uganda in November. The next will be in 2009, location yet to be chosen.
It began with the British Empire. In the 19th century the white colonies achieved democratic self-government that was independence in all but name. Lord Rosebery said in a speech in Australia in 1884, "There is no need for any nation, however great, leaving the Empire, because the Empire is a commonwealth of nations." The word "Commonwealth" stuck.
With full self-government, the Dominions as they became called craved a constitutional definition of their position and the nature of the British Commonwealth. Dominion leaders met in London every four years from 1887. At the Imperial Conference of 1926 prime ministers adopted the Balfour Report which defined the Dominions as: "... autonomous communities within the British Empire, 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." The British Parliament laid the principle into law with the Statute of Westminster 1931. Thus Canada, the Irish Free State, Newfoundland, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand became finally independent but nominally within the British Empire.
In 1947 India & Pakistan were explicitly given independence as kingdoms under King George VI. When 1949 India decided to become a republic the other dominions agreed that India as a republic could remain within the Commonwealth, accepting the King as Head of the Commonwealth and a symbol of the voluntary association of nations. That is taken as the beginning of the modern Commonwealth. Whenever a kingdom under Her Majesty has become a republic it has had to apply formally for continued membership. Many countries became republics in the 1960's and during the Cold War generally, when it was fashionable to do so.
There is none. All the members are independent. Decisions are made by consensus, but even then there is no legal framework to enforce any decision against a country that changes its mind.
(As an attempt at persuasion, Pakistan and Nigeria have in recent years found themselves suspended from participation in the institutions of the Commonwealth when their democracies broke down. That seems somewhat harsh given the history of many Commonwealth countires since independence, and that democracy has never given Pakistan benevolent rule. It does though reflect the importance that the Commonwealth nations attribute to democracy or at least to rule for the benefit of the people, an ideal inherited from Britain and the Empire.)
While there is no force in relations between members, there is a unique family relationship between the Commonwealth countries which allows relations between them to be conducted in a friendly atmosphere for the most part. Indeed that friendly co-operation is helped by the fact that there is no compulsion. The Commonwealth is no so much about power as co-operation. For example, many professions and institutions in the Commonwealth have common origins. Groups linking such professions and institutions flourish. Such things form the 'unofficial Commonwealth' of professional associations and non-governmental organisations.
The current Secretary General of the Commonwealth is Mr. Kamalesh Sharma (an Indian diplomat), who took over on 1 April 2008 from Rt Hon Donald C McKinnon (a former Deputy Prime Minister of New Zealand). He was appointed at the CHOGM in Kampala in 2007.
The Head of the Commonwealth of course, Her
Majesty Queen Elizabeth II
The
Commonwealth Secretariat
The
Commonwealth Games Federation. In 2006
Melbourne hosted the
Commonwealth Games and did a jolly good job. Now we are looking forward to the
games in Delhi in 2010.
In 1911, the forerunner of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association was established, followed in 1913. Today it consists of the national, provincial, state and territorial Parliaments and Legislatures of the countries of the Commonwealth, and supports good practice and democracy. It was followed by the Universities' Bureau of the British Empire (now the Association of Commonwealth Universities). They have been joined by many more.
Private organizations such as the Commonwealth Foundation have their role to play too.
The point about the Commonwealth is that it is not a thing growing out of governments. Indeed the Commonwealth arose from the British Government and Parliament sitting back and letting people take care of their own affairs. The Commonwealth is about people first and foremost.
Try the Commonwealth Secretariat at "www.thecommonwealth.org".
- and as an illustrative guide its 2005 yearly Report (the usual self-serving gibberish and management jargon, but better perhaps than many imitators).
Also there are countless related sites to be found throughout the Web.
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