The Rise, Decline and Future of the British Commonwealth

198 Pages·2005·20.753 MB·English

by  Krishnan Srinivasan (auth.)

The Rise, Decline and Future of
the British Commonwealth
The Rise, Decline
and Future of the
British Commonwealth
Krishnan Srinivasan
* Foreword © Peter Lyon 2005; all remaining material
© Krishnan Srinivasan 2005
Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2005 978-1-4039-8715-0
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First published in 2005 by
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ISBN 978-0-230-20367-9 ISBN 978-0-230-24843-4 (eBook)
DOI 10.1057/9780230248434
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A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Srinivasan, Krishnan, 1937-
The rise, decline and future of the British Commonwealth I
Krishnan Srinivasan.
p.cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
1. Commonwealth countries-History. I. Title.
DA 16.574 2005
909' .0971241-dc22 2005051552
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
14 13 12 11 10 09 08 07 06 OS
Transferred to Digital Printing 2006
I come to talk of Commonwealth affairs.
Shakespeare Henry VI Part 2, Act I, Scene 3
My purpose is ... to speak about the little-mentioned or
noticed, to consider subjects which are neglected; to be critical,
not for the sake of casting stones or scoring points but because
universities must test from one generation to the next, ideas
which may once have been accepted but are no longer in their
full vigour, or which may be derided by fashion but worthy of a
kinder fate.
Dilks, Communications, the Commonwealth
and the Future p. 3
India's decision [to remain associated with Britain by joining
the Commonwealth] strengthened the Whiggish view of the
Empire's progress and purpose including the belief that British
rule had been designed originally to allow dependent peoples
to advance towards self-government and to reach fulfilment in
the Commonwealth ... the Commonwealth according to [the]
counter-interpretation was not intended to end the Empire, but
to continue it by other means.
Brown and Louis, The Twentieth Century p. xii
The rise and fall of the British Empire has often been chronicled:
its aftermath less so. Perhaps the main reason for this relative
neglect lies in an almost natural aversion to anticlimax.
Mayall and Payne, The Fallacies of Hope p. 1
What is the Commonwealth but the ghost of the British Empire
come to haunt the present troubled state of international
relations?
Austin, The Round Table, vol. 75 (297)
]an. 1986, p. 16
Contents
List ofA bbreviations ix
Acknowledgements xi
Foreword xii
Introduction 1
1 The Nehru Commonwealth 5
The immediate post-war period 5
India and Pakistan 9
Burma 13
Ceylon 14
Malaya 15
Britain, the Commonwealth and Asian independence 16
Defence 26
The United States of America and Empire 32
The West Indies Federation 37
The Suez crisis and its aftermath 38
The Middle East and Cyprus 41
2 The African Commonwealth 43
British Africa 43
South Africa 48
The Central African Federation and Rhodesia 51
Britain, the Commonwealth and Independent
Africa 57
Economic matters 63
Britain's entry to the EEC 71
Immigration and citizenship 74
3 Some Other 'Commonwealths' 83
The OIF, the CPLP, the OEI and the Dutch 83
4 Nobody's Commonwealth? 107
The position of the Crown 107
vii
viii Contents
Domestic and public opinion 111
Media comments through the years 121
Knowledge of the modern Commonwealth 126
The House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee
Report, 1995-96 132
The 'Commonwealth factor' in trade and
economic relations 136
A new agenda for the old Commonwealth 138
The Commonwealth today - and tomorrow 143
Notes 162
Bibliography 173
Index 177
List of Abbreviations
ACCT Agence de Cooperation Culturelle et Technique
AIF Agence Intergouvernmentale de la Francophonie
ANZAM Australia, New Zealand and Malaya
ANZUS Australia, New Zealand and the United States
APODOTI Timorese Popular Democratic Association
BBC British Broadcasting Corporation
CBC Commonwealth Business Council
CENTO Central Treaty Organization aka The Baghdad Pact
CFTC Commonwealth Fund for Technical Cooperation
CPLP Comunidade dos Paises de Lingua Portuguesa
CPP Convention People's Party
CPSU Communist Party of the Soviet Union
CRO Commonwealth Relations Office
ECOSOC United Nations Economic and Social Council
EEC European Economic and Community
Enosis Union of Cyprus with Greece sought by Greek Cypriots
EU European Union
FCO Foreign and Commonwealth Office
FLNA Frente Nacional de Liberta.;ao de Angola
FRELIMO Frente de Liberta.;ao de Mo.;ambique
FRETILIN Revolutionary Front of Independent East Timor
G7 Group of Seven major industrial democracies
G8 Group of Eight major industrial democracies (G? plus
Russia)
GATT General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade
GDP Gross Domestic Product
IMF International Monetary Fund
MFN Most Favoured Nation
MPLA Movimento Popular de Liberta.;ao de Angola
NATO North Atlantic Treaty Organization
NGO Non-Governmental Organization
NIB MAR No independence before majority African rule
OAS Organisation Armee Secrete
OCAM Organization of the African and Malagasy Community
ODA Official Development Assistance
OEI Organizaci6n de Estados Iberoamericanos
ix
x List ofA bbreviations
OIF International Organization de la Francophonie
SEATO South East Asian Treaty Organization
UDI Unilateral Declaration of Independence
UDT Timor Democratic Union
UK United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
UN United Nations
UNEF United Nations Emergency Force
UNITA Uniao Nacional para a Independencia Total de Angola
USA United States of America
USSR Union of Soviet Socialist Republics aka The Soviet Union
WTO World Trade Organization
ZANU-PF Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front
Acknowledgements
The author's grateful thanks are due to
The Netherlands Institute for Advanced Study, Wassenaar
The Institute of Commonwealth Studies, London
The Centre of International Studies, Cambridge
Wolfson College, Cambridge
xi