Commonwealth Should Be Abolished

The Commonwealth does not deny the injustices of history, but instead transforms them positively by building upon the common links between the member nations, almost all of which have English as a major language and political and legal systems modelled upon the British precedent. Today all the countries of the Commonwealth have equal status and Britain is no longer dominant in the way it was in the immediate post-colonial era. Many of the members have entered through deliberate choice, not just through an accident of history, and countries such as Rwanda and Cambodia, which have no historic link to the British Empire, are also considering joining.

The Commonwealth does not deny the injustices of history, but instead transforms them positively by building upon the common links between the member nations, almost all of which have English as a major language and political and legal systems modelled upon the British precedent. Today all the countries of the Commonwealth have equal status and Britain is no longer dominant in the way it was in the immediate post-colonial era. Many of the members have entered through deliberate choice, not just through an accident of history, and countries such as Rwanda and Cambodia, which have no historic link to the British Empire, are also considering joining.

Aside from the UN, the Commonwealth is the only major international organisation to unite a diverse range of developed and developing countries, covering nearly 30% of the world’s population. This makes it valuable in fostering dialogue on democracy and development, as well as a great deal of cultural and academic exchange. The Harare Declaration of 1991 committed the Commonwealth to principles of human rights and democratic government, and the Commonwealth has provided practical and moral support for states in transition from dictatorship or colonial rule. Nor is there a conflict between membership of the Commonwealth and of other major global organisations.Smaller, developing nations perhaps gain the most from the Commonwealth, which gives their voice greater prominence than it could achieve in the much larger, more polarised United Nations. They gain technical assistance on a range of development issues, a forum in which bilateral trade and investment deals can be negotiated in an atmosphere of goodwill, and practical help in maintaining permanent missions to the UN.

Failure to currently fulfil high ideals does not invalidate an organisation which seeks to strive towards them. The Commonwealth is helping to establish democracy and respect for human rights as international norms, and countries which have seriously repudiated these have faced sanctions and expulsion (e.g. at varying times Pakistan, South Africa and Nigeria) until they have begun to change for the better. Countries wishing to embark upon political reform gain a great deal of support from the Commonwealth; this is made even more valuable by the fact that most Commonwealth states share similar parliamentary and legal systems in the Westminster tradition.

It may be true that the developed nations in the Commonwealth, such as Britain, are able to ignore the other members from time to time. Nonetheless, it acts as a forum for them to seriously commit attention and resources to the problems of the developing world and this in turn affects their actions in global bodies, such as the United Nations and the World Trade Organisation. The real winners from the Commonwealth are the smallest and least developed nations, who can use its formal and informal channels to win bilateral trade deals, development assistance and support in international negotiations.

Proceeding by consensus and through moral suasion are always open to accusations of weakness, but the Commonwealth has never pretended to be a powerful organisation for enforcing international norms – and many of its members would never have joined it in the first place if it did. Instead the Commonwealth works through constructive engagement, encouraging its members to aspire to high standards of human rights and democratic accountability and running programmes which educate their citizens in these concepts. Action has been taken in the past against the worst transgressors and is all the more effective for being rare.