Life at 60 for the Commonwealth
It has been through three phases. The first was an over-ambitious attempt to subtly continue the British Empire by other means.
The second saw it torn apart by divisions, often over white rule in southern Africa, and was also marked by coups and chaos in many member states.
It wasn't until the third phase that it emerged into what it is today - a middle-ranking, reasonably useful organisation with a formal commitment to democracy and good governance and able to bring an influence to bear on regional problems within its orbit.
This is its perhaps suitably modest mission statement: "Fifty-three independent states consulting and co-operating in the common interests of their peoples and in the promotion of international understanding."
It is interesting to note that this statement, taken from the Singapore Declaration in 1971, leaves out key words from the original.
The original referred to "independent sovereign states, each responsible for its own policies".
The modified language represents an important change in Commonwealth (and indeed UN) thinking about non-intervention. This was an important part of phase three.
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The second saw it torn apart by divisions, often over white rule in southern Africa, and was also marked by coups and chaos in many member states.
It wasn't until the third phase that it emerged into what it is today - a middle-ranking, reasonably useful organisation with a formal commitment to democracy and good governance and able to bring an influence to bear on regional problems within its orbit.
This is its perhaps suitably modest mission statement: "Fifty-three independent states consulting and co-operating in the common interests of their peoples and in the promotion of international understanding."
It is interesting to note that this statement, taken from the Singapore Declaration in 1971, leaves out key words from the original.
The original referred to "independent sovereign states, each responsible for its own policies".
The modified language represents an important change in Commonwealth (and indeed UN) thinking about non-intervention. This was an important part of phase three.