COMMONWEALTH

COMMONWEALTH.
1. A term originally meaning ‘the public good’ (cf. the archaic phrase the common weal), variously used as part of the full official name of a territory or state, as in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts (a constituent state of the USA), the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico (a territory part-integrated into the USA), and the Commonwealth of Australia and Commonwealth of the Bahamas (autonomous nation-states).

2. (with the) also Commonwealth of Nations, formerly British Commonwealth of Nations (1931–46). An association of states and their dependencies, comprising Great Britain and a majority of the countries formerly in the British Empire, as constituted by the Declaration of London in 1949. The British monarch continues as symbolic head of the association. Its language is English and its aims are cooperation and understanding among nations. The organization has no constitution, no legal standing, and no legislative, executive, or judicial function. Every two years the heads of the Commonwealth meet for semi-formal discussions in a different venue. In 1965 a Commonwealth Secretariat headed by a Secretary-General was set up in London as a clearing-house for information and a source of advice on technical cooperation. The Commonwealth Institute, founded in 1959 and based in London and Edinburgh, promotes aspects of the culture and heritage of Commonwealth Nations. The Commonwealth Games are held every four years in different Commonwealth cities. The member states are: Antigua and Barbuda, Australia, Bahamas, Bangladesh, Barbados, Belize, Botswana, Brunei, Cameroon, Canada, Cyprus, Dominica, Fiji, The Gambia, Ghana, Great Britain, Grenada, Guyana, India, Jamaica, Kenya, Kiribati, Lesotho, Malawi, Malaysia, Maldives, Malta, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Nauru, New Zealand, Nigeria, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, St Christopher and Nevis, St Lucia, St Vincent and the Grenadines, Samoa, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Singapore, Solomon Islands, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Swaziland, Tanzania, Tonga, Trinidad and Tobago, Tuvalu, Uganda, Vanuatu, Zambia, Zimbabwe. See ENGLISH LITERATURE, EXAMINING IN ENGLISH.