The Evolving Commonwealth

a world in which we can be surer of change than of anything else, the Commonwealth of Nations has maintained its cohesion because of its flexibility. Yet never has it had more need of flexibility than now. Internally, the Commonwealth has expanded suddenly to include Asiatic countries whose traditions, outlook, and history, as well as racial composition, differ sharply from those of the older member states. Externally, the Commonwealth must face the fact that, in a period of extreme international tension, its strongest partner, the United Kingdom, is no longer in the first rank of military powers. Thus the member nations of the Commonwealth must find a new basis of internal unity at the same time that they re-evaluate their strategic positions. These dual needs have provoked responses along three particular lines. In the first place, the members of the Commonwealth have been seeking a new statement of their relationship with one another which will be acceptable to new and older members alike. Apart from this, however, member nations have concentrated on the problems of their own areas, particularly in strategic issues. And beyond this trend towards regionalism, though in intimate relation to it, members of the Commonwealth have been working increasingly closely with non-Commonwealth countries in their particular areas

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