Articles on Commonwealth

Displaying 1 - 20 of 33 articles

French armed forces prepare aid and assistance to French territories in the Caribbean. Guillaume Cabre/Defense Armee de Terre

September 11, 2017

Hurricane Irma’s devastation of Caribbean territories piles pressure on strained relationship with UK

Alasdair Pinkerton, Royal Holloway and Matthew Benwell, Newcastle University

The aid and assistance Britain's Caribbean territories will need to rebuild will make highlight the fault lines in the relationship between Westminster and its former colonies.

A Rainbow Pride march at Chandannagar, north of Calcutta in early 2017. Piyal Adhikary/EPA

September 1, 2017

The British Empire’s homophobic legacy could finally be overturned in India

Ibtisam Ahmed, University of Nottingham

Section 377, which criminalises homosexuality, could finally be relegated to the history books.

Puerto Ricans in favor of independence protest after a referendum was held on the island’s status. AP Photo/Carlos Giusti

June 12, 2017

Puerto Rico votes on statehood: Polls and protests

Jossianna Arroyo-Martínez, University of Texas at Austin; Carlos Vargas-Ramos, City University of New York, and Charles R. Venator-Santiago, University of Connecticut

Some Puerto Ricans voted, but most stayed home amid a looming financial debt crisis and political protests. Will this vote matter?

For almost all of its cumbersome history, the British Empire was a very ramshackle affair. Shutterstock

May 23, 2017

Australia’s involvement in an ‘Anglosphere’ is the delusion of a golden age that never existed

Allan Patience, University of Melbourne

Australia ingratiating itself into a post-Brexit, British-instigated Anglosphere would be a futile exercise in counterproductive nostalgia.

April 19, 2017

Empire 2.0 and Brexiteers’ ‘swashbuckling’ vision of Britain will raise hackles around the world

Kieran Hazzard, King's College London

Some British people look back fondly to the days of empire. Their views aren't shared by the rest of the world.

Destroying Chinese war junks by Edward Duncan. Wikimedia Commons

March 9, 2017

The Commonwealth and Britain: the trouble with ‘Empire 2.0’

Stan Neal, University of Leicester

As the UK sets up post-Brexit trade deals with Commonwealth countries, it should be mindful of history.

We share a head of state, so should Australia join a Commonwealth trading bloc? Reuters

January 25, 2017

Push for a Commonwealth trading bloc further politicises free trade

Giovanni Di Lieto, Monash University

Australia shouldn't wade into the post-Brexit politics by supporting an idea to form a trading bloc based on the Commonwealth.

UK Prime Minister Theresa May can’t rely on her Indian counterpart Narendra Modi and others in the Commonwealth for unfettered trade support. Reuters/Adnan Abidi

December 7, 2016

The UK won’t easily find post-Brexit trade partners in the Commonwealth

Marius Oosthuizen, University of Pretoria

The UK political elite is overestimating the power of the Commonwealth’s brand in Africa as it seeks new partners in the wake of Brexit.

Justin Tallis PA Archive/Press Association Images

October 17, 2016

Why Britain cannot bank on India for post-Brexit business

Nikita Sud, University of Oxford

Britain and India may be linked by colonial ties, but India is intent on forging a new relationship based on in its own interests.

September 26, 2016

History offers Britain an important lesson on shutting down immigration

Tendayi Bloom, The Open University and Katherine Tonkiss, Aston University

In the 1960s, Britain shut the door on Commonwealth migration, before turing to Europe when it needed more workers.

Boris Johnson outside Whitehall in London. Peter Nicholls/Reuters

July 15, 2016

Boris as foreign secretary: the good news for Africa is maybe it doesn’t matter

David J Hornsby, University of the Witwatersrand

Boris Johnson, the man who led the Brexit campaign, has been appointed as the UK's chief diplomat. It has sent shudders down many spines, but does Africa need to worry?

July 7, 2016

What Brexit means for the Commonwealth

Sue Onslow, School of Advanced Study

Uncertainty over aid and trade will accompany new power struggles between Britain and the Commonwealth.

May 18, 2016

Brexit would be death knell for British influence in the world

Catherine Gegout, University of Nottingham

Membership of the EU guarantees Britain's political power in Europe and beyond.

May 2, 2016

What Brexit would mean for relations between India and the UK

Paul James Cardwell, University of Sheffield and Navajyoti Samanta, University of Sheffield

Don't assume a UK outside of the EU will be able to rewrite its trade deal with India.

April 18, 2016

Who can vote in the EU referendum?

Elodie Fabre, Queen's University Belfast

The big vote is not just for Brits – which might be a surprise to some people.

April 8, 2016

The Commonwealth is not an alternative to the EU for Britain

Andrew Dilley, University of Aberdeen

Why those who want to lean on imperial relations should think again.

The Curtin Labor Government in 1942 started the process to take income tax from the states. National Library of Australia

March 31, 2016

Why income-taxing states is Australia’s best April Fool’s joke ever

Rodney Maddock, Monash University

The states have historically fought to keep their income tax powers so it seems a joke to see a rejection of the Federal Government's proposal to give these powers back.

Kenya’s Supreme Court judges file into the chamber during the opening of parliament. Reuters/Noor Khamis

March 11, 2016

How Commonwealth countries have forged a new way to appoint judges

Hugh Corder, University of Cape Town

The electorate and those involved in public governance should focus more on how judges are appointed. This is because they need to make sure that individuals of the highest quality get the job.

November 25, 2015

Who told Prince Charles he could be Head of the Commonwealth?

Laura Clancy, Lancaster University

The question of who will replace the Queen as Head of Commonwealth is not as simple as it sounds.

Leaders at the last Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in November 2013. Malta will host the next one in November 2015. Reuters/Dinuka Liyanawatte

September 7, 2015

Why the Commonwealth endures despite being written off by the left and the right

Keith Gottschalk, University of the Western Cape

The Commonwealth is politically fraught, with widely divergent members. But, instead of unravelling as some critics wish, it has instead inspired copycats and appears set to grow and endure.

Top contributors

Philip Murphy
Director of the Institute of Commonwealth Studies and Professor of British and Commonwealth History, School of Advanced Study
Anne Twomey
Professor of Constitutional Law, University of Sydney
Sue Onslow
Senior Lecturer, Institute of Commonwealth Studies, School of Advanced Study
Cheryl Saunders
Laureate Professor, Melbourne Law School, University of Melbourne
Gail Pearson
Professor, Business School, University of Sydney
Michael Bennett
Professor in School of History and Classics, University of Tasmania
Stephen Duckett
Stephen Duckett is a Friend of The Conversation.

Director, Health Program, Grattan Institute
Shipra Chordia
Director of the Federalism Project, Gilbert + Tobin Centre of Public Law, UNSW
Catherine Renshaw
Senior Lecturer, School of Law, Western Sydney University
Frederick Cowell
Lecturer in Law, researcher in international law, Birkbeck, University of London
Rodney Maddock
Vice Chancellor's Fellow at Victoria University and Adjunct Professor of Economics, Monash University
Paul James Cardwell
Professor, Strathclyde University
Katherine Tonkiss
Lecturer in Sociology and Policy, Aston University
Keith Gottschalk
Political Scientist, University of the Western Cape
Vron Ware
Professor of Sociology & Gender Studies, Kingston University