Expand the Commonwealth

About two weeks ago a little reported debate was held at the Commonwealth Society. At the debate William Hague argued that the time had come for there to be an expansion of the Commonwealth.

He makes a tremendous case as to why this should be and you can read the BBC report here.

But, this does raise some interesting issues. It is quite clear that to have a bloc of countries that do not have economic competition as a reason for engagement is surely a giood reason for its existnece and its growth. Many people argue that, for the UK,  the EU is attempting to take the place of the Commonwealth and to become a rival to the US. I believe that the comparison is so clearly flawed as to be unworkable. The EU might perceive that to compete effectively with the USA they need to join forces and fight size with size. However, that is not what is at the heart of the USA and the Commonwealth. Below is the defining phrase from the Singapore Declaration that sets out what the role of the Commonwealth is:

"The Commonwealth of Nations is a voluntary association of independent sovereign states, each responsible for its own policies, consulting and co-operating in the common interests of their peoples and in the promotion of international understanding and world peace."

So, I believe there is still a role for the Commonwealth and like Hague am a stropng bleiever that we should be expanding it for whilst it might have been founded on colonialism it is apparent that it has  role ion bringing nations together in a common interest - something the UN is increasingly unable to achieve.