The British Commonwealth: Its past, present, and post-Queen Elizabeth future

The British Commonwealth: Its past, present, and post-Queen Elizabeth future

Subject: IR

• The passing of Queen Elizabeth II is a delicate moment for the British Commonwealth, 14 countries out of which continue to recognise the monarch as their Head of State, a position that is explicitly stated in the constitutions and laws of some of these countries.
• In these cases, changes to the law or statute might be required and could trigger calls for a referendum in jurisdictions where there is significant opposition to the current situation. Jamaica is one example, and it could well follow its regional neighbourBarbados, which left the Commonwealth after becoming a republic in 2021.
• Developed countries such as Australia, New Zealand, and Canada are constitutional monarchies, and their political systems are oriented in a way that the new monarch of the United Kingdom will as part of the usual process become their head of state.

Commonwealth of Nations

• The Commonwealth of Nations, or simply the Commonwealth, is a group of 56 member countries, the vast majority of which are former British colonies. They are mostly in Africa, Asia, the Americas, and the Pacific. Three European nations are part of the Commonwealth: Cyprus, Malta, and of course, the UK itself.
• Fourteen of these 56 countries — along with the UK — constitute the “Commonwealth realms”. They are Antigua and Barbuda, Australia, The Bahamas, Belize, Canada, Grenada, Jamaica, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Solomon Islands, and Tuvalu. The British monarch — now King Charles III, the eldest son of Queen Elizabeth II — is the head of state of these countries.
• Of the remaining 41 member states of the Commonwealth, 36 are republics — this group includes India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka. The other five — Brunei Darussalam, Lesotho, Malaysia, Eswatini (formerly Swaziland) and Tonga — have their own monarchs.
• For the wider Commonwealth, the most visible uniting feature is the Commonwealth Games, the multi-sport international competition that is held every four years in one of the member countries. The Commonwealth Games — which were hosted by India in 2010 and the latest edition of which was completed in Birmingham, England last month — are pretty much the only association that ordinary Indians make with the Commonwealth, even though there are wider aspects of intergovernmental cooperation within the grouping.

History of the Commonwealth

• The Commonwealth is home to 2.5 billion people, a third of the world’s population, the bulk of whom live in the Indian subcontinent.
• The Commonwealth was born out of an attempt by Queen Victoria to maintain control over the colonies as movements for independence grew stronger. In 1867, after Canada made its frustrations with imperial oversight known, the Queen agreed to grant the territory dominion status, which meant that it would have self-rule, but that Britain could veto policies at the monarch’s discretion.
• In subsequent decades other, primarily white, British colonies also became dominions — including Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa. After World War I, rising tides of nationalist sentiment in the dominions forced more changes and, in 1926, Britain and the dominions agreed that they would be equal in status. That declaration, formalised through the Statute of Westminster in 1931, marked the founding of the British Commonwealth of Nations.
• Although India was present at those talks, leaders of the Indian National Movement pushed for full independence. In 1949, newly independent India was invited to join the Commonwealth, and Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru agreed with a pivotal caveat. India asked that it should be given membership without the requirement of having to swear allegiance to the Crown. The member nations agreed — and later that year, India, Pakistan, and Ceylon (Sri Lanka) joined the
• Four countries in the Commonwealth — Mozambique (1995), Rwanda (2009), Togo (2022), and Gabon (2022) — had no colonial ties with Britain. Mozambique was a Portuguese colony, Rwanda was ruled by the Belgians and Germans, and Togo and Gabon by the French.
• It is important to underline, though, that the Queen had no influence on the governance of either the member states of the Commonwealth of Nations or those of the Commonwealth realms, of which she was head of state. In the latter group of countries, she had some constitutional duties — notably, the approval of new governments and, sometimes, legislation; and the grant of state honours or the appointment of certain officials.

Leaving the Commonwealth

• In the 1970s, a host of countries chose to leave the Commonwealth realm, including Dominica, Guyana, and Trinidad and Tobago, effectively removing the Queen as their head of state. In 2021, as Barbados left the realm, its Governor General argued that “the time has come fully to leave our colonial past behind”. The exit was timed with the 55th anniversary of Barbados’s independence from the UK.
• Analysts have wondered whether, with Elizabeth no more, the new monarch would be able to lawfully appoint Governors-General in countries of the Commonwealth realm if those countries do not first change their Constitutions to refer to the “King” as their head of state instead of the Queen.
• If Canada were to consider leaving the realm, an amendment to its constitution would be required. In the case of Australia, it would have to be a referendum. In 1999, a referendum to give the Australian Parliament the power to choose the nation’s head of state was defeated by 45 per cent to 55 per cent, but a fresh referendum may be called by the current government.

What is Constitutional Monarchy?

• A constitutional monarchy is a system of governance in which a monarch serves as the head of state while operating within the bounds of a written (i.e. codified), unwritten (i.e. uncodified), or mixed constitution.
• Absolute monarchy differs from constitutional monarchy in that the monarch is the single source of political authority in the state and is not legally constrained by any constitution.
• Depending on the constitution, most constitutional monarchies use a parliamentary system in which the monarch has either exclusively ceremonial or reserve powers. They have a Prime Minister who is the head of government and wields effective political authority, either directly or indirectly elected.