COMMONWEALTH OF NATIONS
An association of independent countries and their dependencies, linked
by a common acknowledgement of the British monarch as head of Commonwealth.
The term “Commonwealth of nations” in 1949. The designation
“British Empire” was generally used from the 1600’s to the early 1900’s
but gradually yielded to the less imperialistic sounding “British
Commonwealth of nations” after World War I.
The number if independent nations holding membership in the
Commonwealth has increased significantly, particularly since World War
II and most especially during the 1960’s and 1970’s. in the 1970’s alone
14 independent nations became members, many of them small Caribbean
or Pacific islands. All of them acknowledge the British monarch as head
of the Commonwealth, although some of them do not have allegiance to
the British crown.
The name “Commonwealth of Nations” is often limited to these
independent states, but technically it denotes all of their dependencies as
well. The united Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the
cornerstone of the Commonwealth, and the British monarch is the symbol
of its unity. But the Commonwealth nations are not obligated to follow
Britain’s lead in any act of war or peace. Each is the sole judge of the
nature of its association with the other members.
The Commonwealth has no formal or written constitution. Its
members are bound together by, common ideals and interests that have
their source in a shared historical background and political heritage.
Member nations may consult one another on common problems and
exchange views and information.
AREA AND POPULATION
The Commonwealth has a total of about 11 million square miles (28
million
sq km), roughly one fifth of the land surface of the earth. Its total
population in the early 1980’s was about 1,151,000,000, approximately
one fourth of the human race. The peoples of the Commonwealth belong
to all the major races of mankind, profess many religions, and speak
hundreds of different languages and dialects. Culturally, they range from
distinguished graduates of the world’s greatest universities to primitive jungle aborigines. The peoples of the Commonwealth live on every
continent and on islands in every ocean and experience every variety of
climate from Arctic cold to equatorial heat. Their economic pursuits range
from modern forms of industry and high finance to nomadic hunting and
fishing. Their standards of living range from those of the highly
industrialized welfare state to those of the village in the African bush.
THE SOVEREIGN STATES-GOVERNMENT
The following independent Commonwealth countries give allegiance
to the British monarch: Antigua and Barbed, Australia, Bahamas,
Barbados, Canada, Fiji, Grenada, Jamaica, Mauritius, new Zealand,
Papua New Guinea, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and the
Grenadines, Solomon islands, Tuvalu, and the United Kingdom. Except in
the United Kingdom the crown is represented by a governor general who
occupies fundamentally the same position as the monarch in Britain, In
some instances, as in Canada, the governor general is a national of the
dominion.
The Commonwealth also includes among its sovereign states these
republics: Bangladesh, Botswana, Cyprus, Dominica, Gambia, Ghana,
Guyana, India, Kenya, Kiribati, Malta, Malawi, Nauru, Nigeria, Pakistan,
Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Tanzania, Trinidad and
Tobago, Uganda, Vanuatu, Western Samoa, Zambia, and Zimbabwe, It
also includes these monarchies: Lesotho, Malaysia, Swaziland, and Tonga.
These countries do not give allegiance to the British crown but
acknowledge it as the symbol of the free association of the member
countries of the Commonwealth of Nations and, as such, head of the
Commonwealth.
Canada and Australia are federal states, some what similar in this
respect to the United States. New Zealand, like Britain, is a unitary state.
Of the nations that achieved independence within the Commonwealth after
World War II, India, Malaysia, Kenya, Nigeria, and Uganda adopted the
federal system.
Most Commonwealth nations have parliamentary governments
patterned after Britain’s. The laws of these nations are made by a freely
elected parliament after full and public debate. The executive holds office
by virtue of the support of a majority in parliament. If he loses the
confidence of that majority, the executive must either resign his office or
appeal to the people in a general election. In accordance with the British of cabinet government, mistress are collectively responsible for the
actions of the government.
With several exceptions, the Commonwealth parliaments are two
chamber bodies. The lower house is usually elected by seret ballot. For
the upper house, the method of selection varies. For example, members of
the Canadian Senate are appointed for life, nominally by the governor
general but actually by the prime minister. Members of the Australian
Senate are elected for a 6-year term by universal adult suffrage, each of
the six states returning an equal number of senators. With the exception of
money bills, which must originate in the lower house, legislation may be
initiated in either chamber. But in practice the lower house has much
greater legislative authority, and it alone can decide the fate of the
government.
The rule of law prevails in most Commonwealth nations. Citizens
have the right to a fair trial in an open court by an independent judge and
an impartial jury, and the writ of habeas corpus is upheld. In the
republics, judges are appointed by the president. In Malaysia, judge are
appointed by he head of state on the recommendation of a judicial and
legal service commission. In the sovereign states of the Commonwealth
that owe allegiance to the crown, judges are appointed by the governor
general on the advice of the government concerned, except Britain where
they are appointed by the crown on the advice of the prime minister.
Dependencies are Commonwealth areas that do not have complete
self government. They are administered by independent Commonwealth
members. Most dependencies are developing toward self government.
A majority of the dependencies are areas that have been annexed to
the British Crown. This means that persons living in them are British
citizens. These dependencies were formerly called colonies or crown
colonies. A governor appointed by the British governments the highest
official in each such dependency. The governor holds all political power in
some dependencies. Others have elected assemblies, and in them the
governor’s power is limited. Some of the dependencies have become
practically self governing. Most of these areas are ruled as though they
were parts of Britain.
These political units include crown dependencies, joint administrations,
The term dependency may also refer to other kinds of political units.”
self governing areas, and territories. Crown dependencies are self governing territories annexed by the
British Crown. They are not bound by acts of the British Parliament unless
the crown dependencies are named.
Joint administrations are controlled by two nations that have
interests there. Each of the two nations has responsibility for its own
property and personnel in the area.
Self governing areas control their own internal affairs. They have
agreed to let a Commonwealth nation handle heir defense and foreig
relations. However, self governing areas have the right to declare full
independence at any time.
Territories are dependencies of Australia or New Zealand. Each
territory has an administrator chosen by the government of Australia or
New Zealand. In some territories, this official holds all political power. In
other territories, the administrator shares power with an elected assembly.
Some territories have become nearly self governing. Australia and New
Zealand control defence and foreign policy for their territories.
INTRA-COMMONWEALTH RELATIONS
Each Commonwealth nation is an independent state, exercising
overeignty, both internal and external, in the fullest sense of the term.
Each decides its own form of government and its own domestic foreig
policies. Each is free to secede from the Commonwealth at any time, as
did Burma becoming independent in 1947, the Republic Ireland in 1949.
South Africa in 1961, and Pakistan in 1972.
The independent status of the member nations was defined in the
report of the Balfour Committee at the Imperial Conference of 1926.
Issued at a time when the term “British Empire was still in use and when
the major component of the empire were termed “dominions,” the report
has been called the foundation stone of the modern Commonwealth of
Nations. Its key passage asserts that the dominions “are autonomous
Communities within the British Empire, equal status, in no way
subordinate one to another in any aspect of their domestic or external
affairs though united by a common allegiance to the Crown, and freely
associated as members of the British Commonwealth of Nations. Every
semi governing member of the Empire is now the maser of its destiny. In
fact, if not always inform, it is subject to no compulsion whatever.
The
British Empire is not founded upon nations. It depends essentially, if not
formally, a positive ideals. Free institutions are its life blood Free co-
operation is its instrument”.
This definition of equal and independent status was enacted into law in
1931, by the Statute of Westminster, often spoken of as the “Magna Carta
of the Commonwealth”.
The attainment of equal and independent status illustrates the
Commonwealth’s capacity for change because all of Britain’s present
Commonwealth partners were once her colonies or dependencies. The
Commonwealth is in a continuing process of constitutional evolution, as
evolution characterized not only by the growth of its members to
independent nationhood but also by the great diversity of their forms of
government: unitary and federal, monarchical and republican. So flexible
is the structure of the Commonwealth that it could accommodate such an
anomaly as the temporary suspension of parliamentary government by a
benevolent military dictatorship in Pakistan during the late 1950’s and
early 1960’s. It could also countenance the union of a Commonwealth
nation with a non-Commonwealth country, as exemplified by the loose
(and short lived) federation of Ghana and Guinea, a former dependency of
France, formed in 1958.