Abstract
The Commonwealth is a free association of sovereign independent states. It numbered 53 members in 2005. With a membership of 1•7bn. people, it represents over 30% of the world’s population. There is no charter, treaty or constitution; the association is expressed in co-operation, consultation and mutual assistance for which the Commonwealth Secretariat is the central coordinating body.
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Further Reading
The Cambridge History of the British Empire. 8 vols. CUP, 1929 ff.
Austin, D., The Commonwealth and Britain. London, 1988
Ball, M., The ‘Open’ Commonwealth. Duke University Press, Durham (North Carolina), 1971
Chan, S., Twelve Years of Commonwealth Diplomatic History: Summit Meetings, 1979–1991. Lampeter, 1992
Hall, H. D., Commonwealth: A History of the British Commonwealth. London and New York, 1971
Judd, D. and Slinn, P., The Evolution of the Modern Commonwealth. London, 1982
Keeton, G. W. (ed.) The British Commonwealth: Its Laws and Constitutions. 9 vols. London, 1951 ff.
Larby, P. and Hannam, H., The Commonwealth [Bibliography]. Oxford and New Brunswick (NJ), 1993
Madden, F. and Fieldhouse, D., (eds.) Selected Documents on the Constitutional History of the British Empire and Commonwealth. Greenwood Press, New York, 1994
Mansergh, N., The Commonwealth Experience. Macmillan, London, 1982
McIntyre, W. D., The Significance of the Commonwealth, 1965–90. Macmillan, London, 1991
Moore, R. J., Making the New Commonwealth. Oxford, 1987
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© 2006 Palgrave Macmillan, a division of Macmillan Publishers Limited
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Turner, B. (2006). Commonwealth. In: Turner, B. (eds) The Statesman’s Yearbook 2007. The Statesman’s Yearbook. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230271357_31
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230271357_31
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