This lucid guide meets the need, so often expressed in the 1990s, for an up-to-date assessment of the contemporary Commonwealth. It has a succinct section on its historical background and gives more attention than any previous works to symbols and to the 'People's Commonwealth' of voluntary organizations, sports and business. It highlights critical questions of balance that have emerged between the relative roles of governments and official agencies, voluntary associations, and private business.

This book undertakes a systematic analysis of the 2019 Hague Judgments Convention, the 2005 Hague Choice of Court Convention 2005, and the 2017 Commonwealth Model Law on recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Judgments from a pragmatic perspective. The book builds on the concept of pragmatism in private international law within the context of recognition and enforcement of judgments. It demonstrates the practical application of legal pragmatism by setting up a toolbox (pragmatic goals and methods) that will assist courts and policymakers in developing an effective and efficient judgments' enforcement scheme at national, bilateral and multilateral levels. Practitioners, national courts, policymakers, academics, students and litigants will benefit from the book's comparative approach using case law from the United Kingdom and other leading Commonwealth States, the United States, and the Court of Justice of the European Union. The book also provides interesting findings from the empirical research on the refusal of recognition and enforcement in the UK and the Commonwealth statutory registration schemes respectively.

This collection of essays has been assembled to mark the centenary of The Round Table. It provides an analysis of the modern Commonwealth since the establishment of the Secretariat in 1965. Providing an overview of the contemporary Commonwealth, this book places the organization in its rich historical context while assessing its achievements, failures and prospects. The volume is divided into two parts: • Part I concentrates on a series of themes, dealing with the structure and functioning of the Commonwealth and its major activities, including the work of the secretary general and secretariat, its championing of the interests of small states, human rights and the world economy. • Part II adopts a regional perspective, identifying the impact of the Commonwealth on regional relations generally and particular problems that affect these relations. It also examines the ways in which the Commonwealth sometimes reinforces regional loyalties and interests but also the extent to which these have also reduced the importance of the Commonwealth in the foreign policy of its member states. The Contemporary Commonwealth will be of interest to students and scholars of international politics and international organisations, practitioners ,journalists and those working in NGOs involved in Commonwealth affairs. This collection of essays is intended as a companion volume to The Commonwealth and International Affairs, edited by Alex May, marking the centenary of The Round Table.

Youth Work in the Commonwealth: A Growth Profession establishes a baseline to inform the planning and implementation of initiatives to professionalise youth work in Commonwealth member countries. The study was conducted in 35 countries in the Africa, Asia, the Caribbean/Americas, Europe and Pacific regions. It catalogues the extent to which the youth work profession is formally recognised in these countries and examines the qualities and rights-based ethos of the various forms of youth work promoted and practised in the Commonwealth. The report aims to help countries learn from good practices, and assess gaps in establishing youth work as a recognised profession in diverse contexts.

The Commonwealth is working for the UK however if the organisation is to reach its potential and influence events, the Commonwealth Secretariat needs to "sharpen, strengthen and promote its diplomatic performance". Recently the Commonwealth has appeared less active and less publicly visible. The Government does not appear to have a clear and co-ordinated strategy for its relations with the Commonwealth. The moral authority of the Commonwealth has "too often been undermined by the repressive actions of member governments". The Committee is "disturbed to note the ineffectiveness of the mechanisms for upholding the Commonwealth's values", and expresses support for the Eminent Persons Group's proposal for a Commonwealth Charter. The Committee also says that it is not convinced that member states are making the most of the economic and trading opportunities offered by the Commonwealth. The report welcomes the fact that the Commonwealth continues to attract interest from potential new members, and the report says that there are advantages in greater diversity and an extended global reach for the Commonwealth however the application process should be rigorous. There is also concern at the continuing evidence of serious human rights abuses in Sri Lanka and the Committee urges the Prime Minister to state publicly his unwillingness to attend the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Colombo meeting unless he receives "convincing and independently-verified evidence of substantial and sustainable improvements in human and political rights in Sri Lanka."