Commonwealth
Opinion
What does the Commonwealth mean to me? Tracing the institution’s global and personal impact
by Keith Somerville, Senior Research Fellow My first memory of being aware of something called the Commonwealth was as a six or seven year old at West Acton Infant’s School in West London. On the second Monday in March, if the weather was good, the whole school would...
The Commonwealth takes on a complex role in a decolonised world
by Rehnuma Sazzad, Associate Fellow To be, or not to be, is not the question we generally associate with the Commonwealth. Given the historico-political ties binding the former colonies with the mother country, the relevance of the organization has never been...
Commonwealth perspectives: Ideals, memories and sentiments
by J Howard M Jones, Senior Research Fellow When first teaching at the University of Reading, a student from Fiji recounted to me the experience of attending a garden party at Buckingham Palace. When introduced, with her husband, to the Queen, they knelt and clapped...
The relevance of the Commonwealth: beyond commerce
by John Cowley, Senior Research Fellow Political change in the United Kingdom has raised interest in the Commonwealth, giving the organisation a status it has lacked in recent years. Suddenly, this extraordinary association of diverse communities that spans the globe...
How relevant is the Commonwealth today? The view from a journal
By James Chiriyankandath, Senior Research Fellow For over a decade I’ve co-edited Commonwealth and Comparative Politics, which is, along with The Round Table, one of the two journals, both published by Routledge, focused on the politics of the Commonwealth. First...
Is it too early to wish for a phoenix?
By Balasubramanyam Chandramohan, Senior Research Fellow The implication that the Commonwealth has to rise from its ashes presupposes that the Commonwealth is already in terminal decline, and may even be on the pyre of history. Yet the modern Commonwealth is clearly...
Whose Commonwealth is it for? Consider the grass roots
by Mandy Banton, Senior Research Fellow, Institute of Commonwealth Studies The question of whether the Commonwealth is relevant invites others: - What do we understand by ‘the Commonwealth’? - Relevant to whom? If we consider the Commonwealth as an umbrella...
Is the Commonwealth relevant?
Edited by Dr Sue Onslow, Deputy Director, Institute of Commonwealth Studies In January 2018, as preparations towards the Commonwealth Summit in London began to accelerate, Senior Research Fellows at the Institute were asked for their views on the valid question, ‘Is...
Cambridge Analytica and African elections
by Martin Plaut, Senior Research Fellow, Institute of Commonwealth Studies Cambridge Analytica, the British political consultancy caught up in a huge scandal over its use of Facebook data, has boasted that they ran the successful campaigns of President Uhuru Kenyatta...
Democracy and violence: the threat to South Africa’s elections
by Martin Plaut, Senior Research Fellow, Institute of Commonwealth Studies Violent politics in a violent society South African elections take place against a background of violence. The ruptures of the apartheid era have been carried over into post-apartheid society,...
Recent Comments