ABSTRACT
The pair of ‘‘peak’’ institutions in the Commonwealths-Secretariat
and Foundation-celebrated four decades in 2005. Yet they remain
very modest in terms of budgets and staff even though their reach and
reputation may be less so. Without the energies and synergies of the
unofficial Commonwealth-from businesses to games and literatures
to universities-the extended family would be considerably impover-
ished. Just as some agencies in the UN system are bigger and better
funded than headquarters in New York, so, for example, both CGF and CPA have more members than ComSec (see Maps I.1 and I.2).
And one or two others became sufficiently extensive and distinctive
that they have formally left the family (e.g. CABI below) or graduated
(e.g. CTO) even although they continue to have special relationships
with the Commonwealths.
