ABSTRACT
Introduction The transition to independence and accession to membership of the Commonwealth by the new states of Africa from 1957 probably more than any other development helped in defining the character of the contemporary Commonwealth of Nations. The acceptance by other members, earlier in 1949, of India’s decision to become a republic while retaining its membership of the association, had facilitated, in subsequent years, the membership of not only the African but also of other Asian, Caribbean and Pacific states. The acceptance of India’s republican status had confirmed the honorific nature of the British monarch’s headship of the Commonwealth but also acceptance of the British Crown as the symbol of the association. It was a compromise that confirmed the flexibility of the association and accommodation of the freedom of action of members in both domestic and external relations. With the independence of Ghana in 1957 and many other African states in the early 1960s, Commonwealth membership received a rapid boost that was to change the character of the organisation on a permanent basis. The acceptance also facilitated the emergence of a truly multiracial Commonwealth.
