Posted by Chester Morton / Thursday, 22 September 2016 / No comments
The features of the Commonwealth of Nations
Introduction
The
Commonwealth was traditionally made up of Britain and her former colonies but
today there are members of the commonwealth, like Rwanda and Mozambique, who
were not former colonies of Britain. In its current form the Commonwealth can
be described as an association of independent countries who have freely come
together to cooperate among each other for the benefit of their citizens.
FEATURES
OF THE COMMONWEALTH
Queen
as Head of Commonwealth
One
of the main features of the Commonwealth of Nations is that the Queen of
England was made the head of the organization and still remains so. When the
British colonies attained independence, many of them retained the Queen of
England as their Heads of State until they attained republican status.
Biennial
Summit
Another
major feature of the Commonwealth is the summit that is held by the
organization every two years to discuss matters of importance to member states.
These summits are attended by Heads of Government of member countries.
Common
Official Language
One
of the features of the commonwealth is that the members speak a common
language. All the members, in exception of Rwanda and Mozambique, use English
as their official language. India, on the other hand later adopted Hindi to
replace the English language.
Common
Systems of Government
Another
feature of the Commonwealth is their adoption of a common system of government.
After the attainment of independence, the member states that were former
colonies of Britain all adopted the parliamentary or the Cabinet system of
government that the British, their former colonial master were practicing.
Common
Educational Systems
Another
feature is that the member states of Commonwealth of Nations have similar
educational systems. The educational system of each member state was modeled on
the educational system of the British.
Common
Legal System
The
members of the Commonwealth also adopted the British legal systems. If one went
to a court in any member country of the Commonwealth, the procedures are not
different from the procedures adopted by any other member of the Commonwealth,
maybe only in those member states that were not originally colonies of Britain.
Exchange
of High Commissioners
One
other significant feature of the Commonwealth is that when member states
exchange ambassadors as is done between any other two sovereign countries, the
appointees are not designated as ambassadors. In the Commonwealth, they are
referred to as High Commissioners. The functions they perform as High
Commissioners are not however, substantially different from those performed by
ambassadors.
SAMPLE QUESTIONS
1. Highlight six problems that are faced by the
Commonwealth of Nations.
