Decolonization and Decline
If the British Empire was completely shaken by World War II (1939-1945) which upset it.
Hong Kong and Burma - conquered by Japan.
1941 – the Atlantic Charter - Prime Minister Winston Churchill joined with US President Franklin Delano Roosevelt in issuing it. This document was not a treaty between the two powers. Nor was it a final and formal expression of peace aims. It was only an affirmation, as the document declared, “of certain common principles in the national policies of their respective countries on which they based their hopes for a better future for the world.” The points of the Atlantic Charter also affirmed the basic principles of international justice: no aggrandizement; no territorial changes without the freely-expressed wishes of the peoples concerned; the right of every people to choose their own form of government; and equal access to raw materials for all nations. The Charter – declared the right of self-determination for all countries. While Britain was quite successful overall at mobilizing its empire for the war, the promises it issued and the actions it took to elicit this mobilization ultimately hastened its end. Support for the principles of the Atlantic Charter and a pledge of cooperation to the utmost in giving effect to them, came from a meeting of ten governments in London shortly after Mr. Churchill returned from his ocean rendezvous. This declaration was signed on September 24 by the USSR and the nine governments of occupied Europe: Belgium, Czechoslovakia, Greece, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Yugoslavia and by the representatives of General de Gaulle, of France.
The name "United Nations", coined by United States President Franklin D. Roosevelt was first used in the Declaration by United Nations of 1 January 1942, during the Second World War, when representatives of 26 nations pledged their Governments to continue fighting together against the Axis Powers. The forerunner of the United Nations was the League of Nations, an organization conceived in similar circumstances during the first World War, and established in 1919 under the Treaty of Versailles "to promote international cooperation and to achieve peace and security." In 1945, representatives of 50 countries met in San Francisco at the United Nations Conference on International Organization to draw up the United Nations Charter. The United Nations officially came into existence on 24 October 1945, when the Charter had been ratified by China, France, the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom, the United States and by a majority of other signatories. United Nations Day is celebrated on 24 October each year.
The Atlantic Charter The United Nations (abbreviated UN in English, and ONU in French and Spanish), is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace. The UN was founded in 1945 after World War II to replace the League of Nations, to stop wars between countries, and to provide a platform for dialogue. It contains multiple subsidiary organizations to carry out its missions.
There are 193 member states.
The Indian Independence Act 1947 was as an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that partitioned British India into the two new sovereign dominion states of India and Pakistan within the Commonwealth. Later they became independent: The Republic of India (1950), the Islamic Republic of Pakistan (1856), The People’s Republic of Bangladesh (the eastern half, 1974 independence recognized by Pakistan).
1948 – Ceylon and Burma got independence. Only Burma did not remain a member of the Commonwealth.
Of Britain’s Asian possessions, only Hong Kong was still under British control after 1950, and it was returned to the People’s Republic of China in 1997.
Hong Kong
In 1997, the United Kingdom's last major overseas territory, Hong Kong, became a Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China. Hong Kong was returned to the United Kingdom following its occupation by the Japanese during the Second World War. It was controlled directly by a British governor until the expiry of the hundred-year lease, which occurred in 1997. From that date the territory was controlled as a Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China.
In 1948 Britain also gave up its control over Palestine. In Africa, Britain assumed that self-government would be much longer in coming.
Many African nations gained independence in the late 1950s and early 1960s. The end of Britain's Empire in Africa came rapidly: Ghana's independence (1957) after a ten-year nationalist political campaign was followed by that of Nigeria and Somaliland (1960), Sierra Leone and Tanganyika (1961), Uganda (1962), Kenya and Zanzibar (1963), The Gambia (1965), Lesotho (formerly Basutoland) (1966), Botswana (formerly Bechuanaland) (1967), and Swaziland (1968).
The West Indies. The various islands gained their independence as separate, and not always viable, units. Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago became independent in 1962, and the other islands followed thereafter.
Throughout this process, British governments did not resist decolonization, provided that it was possible to transfer power to friendly regimes and the circumstances were not humiliating to national pride. Where British prestige was hurt, as in the war with Argentina over the Falkland Islands (Islas Malvinas) in 1982, the response was militant.
With the end of the empire, a multiracial, coequal Commonwealth of Nations evolved, which had modest utility but generally cooperative feelings. Today there are 54 Commonwealth nations, and even most of those states that left the Commonwealth for one reason or another (such as South Africa and Pakistan) have found cause to return.
Legacy
The United Kingdom retains sovereignty over fourteen territories outside of the British Isles, collectively named the British overseas territories, which remain under British rule due to lack of support for independence among the local population or because the territory is uninhabited except for transient military or scientific personnel. British sovereignty of two of the overseas territories, Gibraltar and the Falkland Islands, is disputed by their nearest geographical neighbours, Spain and Argentina respectively.
Most former British colonies (and one former Portuguese colony) are members of the Commonwealth of Nations, a non-political, voluntary association of equal members, in which the United Kingdom has no privileged status. The head of the Commonwealth is currently Queen Elizabeth II. Fifteen members of the Commonwealth continue to share their head of state with the United Kingdom, the Commonwealth realms.
Many former British colonies share or shared certain characteristics:
• The English language as either the main or secondary language.
• A democratic parliamentary system of government modelled on the Westminster system.
• A legal system based upon English law. The Judicial Committee of the Privy Council, one of the United Kingdom's highest courts of appeal, still serves as the highest court of appeal for several former colonies.
• A military, police and civil service based upon British models.
• The imperial system of measurement (Myanmar, Cyprus, India and the United States are the only former British colonies not to have officially adopted the metric system).
• Educational Institutions such as boarding schools and universities modelled on Oxford and Cambridge.
• Driving on the left hand side of the road, with some exceptions mainly in North America and North Africa.
• Popularity of football, rugby union and/or cricket, as well as related sports.
The British Empire was also responsible for large migrations of peoples. Millions of people left the British Isles, with the founding settler populations of the United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand coming mainly from Britain. Tensions remain between the mainly British-descended populations of Canada, Australia and New Zealand and the indigenous minorities in those countries. British settlement of Ireland continues to leave its mark in the form of a divided Catholic and Protestant community. The makeup of Britain itself was irreversibly changed after the Second World War when large numbers of migrants began arriving from the colonies that it was busy granting independence to them.
In April 1949, following the London Declaration, the word "British" was dropped from the title of the Commonwealth to reflect its changing nature. During the five decades following World War II, most of the territories of the Empire became independent. Many went on to join the Commonwealth of Nations, a free association of independent states. The Commonwealth
The Commonwealth of Nations (present-day)
Structure
The Head of the Commonwealth - Queen Elizabeth
Members
Origin
The English noun commonwealth dates originally from the 15th century. The original phrase "common wealth" or "the common weal" comes from the old meaning of "wealth" which is "well-being". The term literally meant "common well-being". => commonwealth originally meant a state or nation-state governed for the common good as opposed to an authoritarian state governed for the benefit of a given class of owners.
Today it is a worldwide association of nations and their dependencies, whose members share a common commitment to promoting human rights, democracy, and economic development. All members accept the British monarch as the symbolic head of the Commonwealth. All but one, Mozambique, were once associated in some constitutional way with either the former British Empire or with another member country. The association was formerly known as the British Commonwealth of Nations, but today is referred to simply as the Commonwealth.
About 1.7 billion people live in the 53 independent nations and the more than 20 dependencies that make up the Commonwealth. Commonwealth members share many customs and traditions as a result of their association with Britain. Many have parliamentary systems of government on the British model, and their judicial and educational institutions are often similar to those in Britain. English is an official language of many members of the Commonwealth.
Since 1977 the second Monday in March has been celebrated as Commonwealth Day; on that day the British monarch, as the head of the Commonwealth, presents an annual message to all member countries.
Origin
The Belfour Report (or Declaration)
The Statue of Westminster
The London Declaration
The Singapore Declaration
The Harare Declaration
the Commonwealth is the successor of the British Empire.
In 1884, whilst visiting South Australia, Lord Rosebery described the changing British Empire, as some of its colonies became more independent, as a "Commonwealth of Nations".
Conferences of British and colonial Prime Ministers had occurred periodically since 1887, leading to the creation of the Imperial Conferences in the late 1920s.
The formal organisation of the Commonwealth developed from the Imperial Conferences, where the independence of the self-governing colonies and especially of dominions was recognised.
The Balfour Declaration - 1926
It was so named after the British Lord President of the Council Arthur Balfour, Earl of Balfour. The report got this name was resulting from the 1926 Imperial Conference of British Empire leaders in London.
It states of the United Kingdom and the Dominions
Britain and its dominions were equal in status, in no way subordinate one to another in any aspect of their domestic or external affairs, though united by common allegiance to the Crown, and freely associated as members of the British Commonwealth of Nations.
the British government would no longer legislate for the dominions or nullify acts passed by their own legislatures.
This relationship was eventually formalised by the Statute of Westminster in 1931.
The Statute of Westminster - 1931
officially proclaimed the Commonwealth a free association of self-governing dominions united by a common allegiance to the Crown.
Australia, Canada, Ireland, Newfoundland, New Zealand, and South Africa, all British dominions at that time, were granted full autonomy within the British Empire.
the “Dominions are autonomous communities within the British Empire, equal in status, in no way subordinate one to another in any aspect of their domestic or external affairs, though united by a common allegiance to the Crown, and freely associated as members of the British Commonwealth of Nations.”
By the provisions of the statute, the dominions were empowered to reject any law of the British Parliament if their own parliaments so decide and to enact legislation concerning all domestic matters, including merchant shipping.
As such, Commonwealth members were entitled to join international organizations as independent nations.
After World War II, the Empire was gradually dismantled (разваливаться)hfhf, owing to
the rise of independence movements
the British Government's strained circumstances resulting from the cost of the war
The London Declaration - 1949
The London Declaration is often seen as the birth of the modern Commonwealth
It was a meeting of Commonwealth prime ministers in London.
The declaration changed membership in the Commonwealth from one based on common allegiance to the British Crown to one in which members agreed to recognize the British monarch as a symbol of their association, and thus head of the Commonwealth. Commonwealth nations were no longer required to recognize the Crown as their head of state.
Thus it allowed the Commonwealth to admit and retain members that were not Commonwealth Realms, including both republics and monarchies.
India agreed that when it became a republic in January 1950 it would accept the King as "symbol of the free association of its independent member nations and as such Head of the Commonwealth".
and following India's precedent, other nations moved to become republics, or constitutional monarchies under a different Royal House.
it renamed the organisation from the 'British Commonwealth' to the 'Commonwealth of Nations', reflecting the first change.
During the decades following the London Declaration, many of Britain’s colonies and dependencies in Africa, Asia, the West Indies, and the Pacific Islands gained their independence and joined the Commonwealth, although some Commonwealth members have also withdrawn.
1949 - Ireland left the Commonwealth
1961 - South Africa withdrew after many Commonwealth members condemned its policies of apartheid and white supremacy. South Africa rejoined the Commonwealth in 1994 after apartheid ended.
1987 - Fiji lost its membership when a military coup took over its government, but its membership was reinstated in 1997 after the country adopted a new constitution more in line with Commonwealth principles.
from 1999 to 2004 - Pakistan was suspended from the Commonwealth
2007 - Pakistan was again suspended from the Commonwealth after President Pervez Musharraf imposed emergency rule, but it was reinstated in May 2008 after democratic parliamentary elections were held..
The Singapore Declaration of Commonwealth Principles - 1971
It was issued by the assembled Heads of Government of the Commonwealth of Nations, setting out the core political values that would form the main part of the Commonwealth's membership criteria.
Along with the Harare Declaration, issued in 1991, it is considered one of the two most important documents to the Commonwealth's uncodified constitution.
The declaration opens with a description of the Commonwealth's identity, the relationship between the organisation and its members, and its fundamental goals:
“ 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. ”
The 2d article describes the extent and diversity of the Commonwealth.
The 3d article states, at the height of the Cold War, that membership of the Commonwealth is compatible with membership of any other international organisation or non-alignment.
The next 10 articles in turn detail some of the core political principles of the Commonwealth. These include:
world peace and support for the United Nations;
individual liberty and egalitarianism;
opposition to racism;
opposition to colonialism;
eradication of poverty, ignorance, disease, and economic inequality;
free trade;
institutional cooperation;
multilateralism;
rejection of international coercion -
- принуждение, насилие, применение
силы
These are summed up in the final article, which serves as a touchstone for Commonwealth principles.
The Harare Commonwealth Declaration - 1991
The commitments of the Singapore Declaration were reaffirmed in the Harare Declaration, which emphasized democracy and human rights.
The Declaration was issued in Harare, Zimbabwe.
It setting out the Commonwealth's core principles and values, detailing the Commonwealth's membership criteria, and redefining and reinforcing its purpose.
Critical to the document is the removal of a reference to the opposition to international coercion, which had been included in the Singapore Declaration.