ABSTRACT

Membership of international organisations like the Commonwealth is usually seen as an absolute – you are either in or you are out. However, in the case of the Commonwealth and other organisations, like the EU, this is not entirely true. The Commonwealth, has a number of peripheries where membership is more blurred. As we have seen above, besides members, there is the queue of applicants that are being held under review; there are those states that have left and rejoined, there are those states that never joined but would be conditionally welcomed ‘back’. Also, the unofficial Commonwealth has a more porous membership than the official organisation. Here too we see ‘outsiders’ in the Commonwealth and the Commonwealth acting outside of its ‘natural space’. The effects of globalisation combined with the increased use of the English language worldwide, have created new economic hubs. Places such as Bangalore thrive because they are well positioned in terms of education, language and attitude. Arguably, these are Commonwealth norms and values that are evident in parts of India as well as in places such as Ireland. Here we see open, uneven regionalism in action. Indeed, it is clear that unlike the endless multilevel UN reform debates, there are different Commonwealths that co-exist, interact and at times overlap.