The Commonwealth in the 1980's Challenges and Opportunities. Palgrave Macmillan, Macmillan Distribution (MDL) [distributor],. McClelland & Stewart Inc [distributor],. Booksite Afrika [distributor],. Pan Macmillan South Africa [distributor],. Palgrave (Mac

We came to this book virtually by accident. As teachers of international organisation and international relations we had paid no more than the scantist regard to the Commonwealth. Our research interest in the topic was excited more by its supposed negative qualities than by its positive ones. Like most people of our age group, born just before the Second World War, we had no sense of being 'Commonwealth men'-a breed that has now nearly died out. On the contrary, our instincts were that the Commonwealth was a contemporary manifestation of a dubious past: it generated discomforting thoughts of imperialism, national service in dangerous faraway places, and old-fashioned and tetchy Colonel Blimps. However, John Goormaghtigh and Jean Siotis, who were then directing the Centre for Research on International Institutions in Geneva, persuaded us that it was time for an academic team to have a new look at the Commonwealth. We are grateful to them for starting us off on what is probably the best kind of academic voyage: one on which one gains both enlightenment, and sympathy for the subject. If we started off in half a mind that we were on to an academic demolition job, the project has turned out very differently-and not only for ourselves but also for several of the team who shared our scepticism about the Commonwealth. We have ended up with a view of the Commonwealth which is quite different from that with which we started, in part because the contemporary Commonwealth is different in many ways from its earlier self. Indeed, our earlier image is only faintly recognisable in the stuff and institutions of the contemporary Commonwealth. Above all we have become convinced that the quality of relations between its members is an impressive asset in approaching a range of contemporary problems, and that there is considerable scope for the extension of its role even where its present contribution is, perhaps, from some points of view, rather small scale. We have come to see merit in the way it conducts its business and to see its promise for growth. Despite its failures and its weaknesses the contemporary Commonwealth contributes significantly to the wellbeing of contemporary world society as we see it. It is eminently worth having and cherishing. xi Front Matter....Pages i-xii Front Matter....Pages 1-1 The Continuing Commonwealth: Its Origins and Characteristics....Pages 3-14 The Commonwealth Secretariat....Pages 15-39 Regionalism and the Commonwealth....Pages 40-52 Front Matter....Pages 53-53 The Commonwealth Youth Programme and Youth-oriented Activities....Pages 55-64 Education....Pages 65-82 The Arts: an Emerging Dimension....Pages 83-93 Science and Technology: the Commonwealth Dimension....Pages 94-106 Commonwealth Co-operation in the Field of Health....Pages 107-115 Military Ties....Pages 116-124 Law of the Commonwealth....Pages 125-139 The Residual Legatee: Economic Co-operation in the Contemporary Commonwealth....Pages 140-165 By Way of Comparison: French Relations with Former Colonies....Pages 166-182 Front Matter....Pages 183-183 Continuity without Consensus: the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meetings, 1971–81....Pages 185-224 Conflict Management in the Commonwealth....Pages 225-243 Migration in the Commonwealth....Pages 244-259 The Existing Dependencies....Pages 260-289 Front Matter....Pages 291-291 The Commonwealth as an International Organisation....Pages 293-304 The Commonwealth in the 1980s: Challenges and Opportunities....Pages 305-323 Back Matter....Pages 325-372