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Nations
INTRODUCTION
The Commonwealth of Nations, commonly
known as theCommonwealth (formerly the
British Commonwealth), is
anintergovernmental organisation of 53
member states that were mostlyterritories
of the former British Empire. The
Commonwealth operates
byintergovernmental consensus of the
member states, organised through
theCommonwealth Secretariat and Nongovernmental organisations, organised
through the Commonwealth Foundation.
ORIGIN OF THE
COMMONWEALTH
In her address to Canada on Dominion Day, 1959,
Queen Elizabeth II set the confederation of Canada
on 1 July 1867 as the birth of the "first independent
country within the British Empire. So, it also marks
the beginning of that free association of
independent states which is now known as the
Commonwealth of Nations. In was not, though,
until 1884 that Lord Rosebery, while visiting
Australia, described the changing British Empireas
some of its colonies became more independentas
a "Commonwealth of Nations".[11] Conferences of
British and colonial prime ministers occurred
periodically from the first one in 1887, leading to
the creation of the Imperial Conferences in 1911.
Members of The
Commonwealth
Members of The
Commonwealth
The land area of the Commonwealth nations is
about 31,500,000 km2(12,200,000 sq mi), or
about 21% of the total world land area. The
three largest Commonwealth nations by area
are Canada at 9,984,670 km2 (3,855,100 sq
mi),Australia at 7,617,930 km2 (2,941,300 sq
mi), and India at 3,287,263 km2(1,269,219 sq
mi).The Commonwealth members have a
combined gross domestic product of over $9
trillion, 78% of which is accounted for by the
four largest economies: United Kingdom ($2.95
trillion), India ($2.05 trillion), Canada($1.79
trillion), and Australia ($1.44 trillion).
THE NEW
COMMONWEALTH
As the Commonwealth grew, Britain and the pre1945 dominions became informally known as the
Old Commonwealth and planners in the interwar
period, like Lord Davies, who had also taken "a
prominent part in building up the League of
Nations Union" in the United Kingdom, in 1932
founded the New Commonwealth Society, of
which British section Winston Churchill became
the president. This new society was aimed at the
creation of an international air force to be the
arm of the League of Nations, to allow nations to
disarm and safeguard the peace.
HEAD OF THE
COMMONWEALTH
Head of the
Commonwealth
Commonwealth
Secretariat
Marlborough House, London, the headquarters of the
Commonwealth secretariat
headquarters
Political System
Due to their shared constitutional histories, several
countries in the Commonwealth have similar legal and
political systems. The Commonwealth requires its
members to be functioning democracies that respect
human rights and the rule of law. Most Commonwealth
countries have the Westminster system of
parliamentary democracy. The Commonwealth
Parliamentary Association facilitates co-operation
between legislatures across the Commonwealth, and
the Commonwealth Local Government Forum
promotes good governance amongst local government
officials. Most Commonwealth members use common
law, modelled on English law. The Judicial Committee
of the Privy Council is the supreme court of 14
Commonwealth members.