what does it mean to be part of the commonwealth

“If the Commonwealth didn’t exist, it wouldn’t be necessary to invent it,” acknowledged James Mayall, Emeritus Fellow in International Relations at Sidney Sussex College at the University of Cambridge. In March, Queen Elizabeth II signed the Commonwealth Charter, which acknowledged 16 core values of Commonwealth countries, including democracy, human rights, freedom of expression and freedom from discrimination. Most Commonwealth states maintain some formal or informal tie to Britain, however the Commonwealth has also expanded to include independent countries such as Rwanda and Mozambique, which do not have historic ties to the British Empire.

Several years after India voted to become an independent republic, the Commonwealth was expanded to allow for sovereign nations not directly under the control of the British monarchy. How did that come to be? Canada actually joined the British Commonwealth as an independent state in 1931, but the modern organization as it exists today came to be in 1949 with the London Declaration. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.

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What does it mean to be part of the commonwealth