Commonwealth Flashcards
What was the original meaning of the commonwealth?
The Commonwealth had originally been conceived in the 1920s as an ‘exclusive club’ of White Dominions enjoying a high degree of domestic self-rule. It was acceptance of the sovereignty of the British monarch over all countries in the Commonwealth.
How did it change after the war?
However, the meaning of Commonwealth evolved significantly in the period after the Second World War, when independence for India, Pakistan and Burma revived the issue of Commonwealth membership. The British came to see Commonwealth as a way of surrendering the costs of formal imperial control whilst maintains informal ties which would help protect Britain’s global economic interests and influence. However, not all former colonies thought the same way.
How did membership terms change?
Nehru’s decision to declare India a republic led to a change in the rules for Commonwealth membership in April 1949. Membership was broadened so as to allow a wider range of regimes to join - most importantly republics.
What purpose did Commonwealth serve?
The Commonwealth served a purpose in allowing some continuation of British global power by means other than formal empire. Britain liked to think of the commonwealth as a family of ‘friendly’ nations around the world, which could lend critical and qualified support, or even mediate in disputes, as Robert Menzies, Prime Minister of Australia attempted to do over Suez. The Commonwealth thus became a body of ‘free and equal’ states, with no legal obligation to one another but united by their history and their shared ‘British’ values of democracy and human rights. It thus acquired an idealistic purpose to uphold the ‘rule of law’, although the scale and extent of its power remained questionable.
What was colonial policy and administration mainly concerned with in the years 1947 -1967?
In the years 1947 to 1967, colonial policy and administration was mainly concerned with managing Britain’s remaining Empire in a way that would maximise its economic value to Britain, assure its loyalty and assist in moves towards independence. Britain’s international position had changed and while it took time for the British to accept that their fortune lay less with the Empire than with Europe, they conceived a means to preserve something of their old Empire through the development of the British Commonwealth. Britain’s last attempt to flaunt its imperial muscle really took place in 1956, in the Suez affair, but after the humiliating climb-down that followed, Britain was forced to come to terms with its loss of status and accept the ‘wind of change’
