The Commonwealth of Nations: Interrogating Its Present Relevance and Exploring Its Strength for The Future in The Contemporary Globalised World

This paper makes case for the interrogation of the Commonwealth of Nations in its present form as its relevance is being questioned in recent times. Its passivity in international fora and among its members states’ affairs has led to the conclusion that it is no longer active, useful and not desirable as a platform for sovereign states in contemporary global system. The paper investigates why it has failed to perform in its present form in the international system and among its member states, what are responsible for such and how it can regain its past glory in the present time and ways to project its future for sustainable consolidation of the organisation. The paper posits to x-ray issue related to its non-relevance such as the organisation’s objectives are not clearly stated, no permanent institutions within it except the secretariat established in 1965, no tangible budget to play international role, no lasting solutions to crisis among its members, notably Pakistan and India, the present and future status of the Queen of England as symbol of authority among member states is now under threats, occurrence of racial discrimination in British territories both home and abroad, still unable to curtail military incursion into politics in member states’ internal affairs and no effective and management structure as Britain is no longer active player. As such, for it to be relevant in situating the organization to its rightful place in the international arena, it requires to have strong structures, rapid response to challenges affecting members states, end its docility in the global stage, assertive to conflict resolution , curtail human rights abuses, end sit-tight syndrome, terrorism and partner with member states in economic and other related areas. The paper makes use of secondary source to generate data for analysis while it adopts constitutional theory of international organizations as theoretical framework to mid-wife the study. Keywords: Collective bargaining, colonial heritage, Commonwealth of Nations, Diplomacy, international system