Issues of commonwealth membership

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Concern to regularise the criteria for membership of the Commonwealth culminated in the Harare Declaration of 1991 which sought to codify the processes of enlargement while establishing a set of principles to guide acceptable behaviour by member states, particularly in the related fields of democracy and human rights. The admission of several countries without a direct association with Britain marked a departure from the founding principles of the Commonwealth. Notwithstanding the recommendations of an Intergovernmental group on Commonwealth Membership, it is likely that heads of government will want to retain a considerable degree of flexibility when determining applications by aspiring states. In ten years’ time it is possible that the Commonwealth may have increased to some 60 member countries, raising many questions about the effect on the organisation's essential characteristics and the spectre of it becoming the victim of its own success.