British Commonwealth Research Articles

Race and Diplomacy in Zimbabwe: The Cold War and Decolonization, 1960–1984 by Timothy Lewis Scarnecchia

<i>Race and Diplomacy in Zimbabwe: The Cold War and Decolonization, 1960–1984</i> by Timothy Lewis Scarnecchia

The Commonwealth of Nations: Interrogating Its Present Relevance and Exploring Its Strength for The Future in The Contemporary Globalised World

The Commonwealth of Nations: Interrogating Its Present Relevance and Exploring Its Strength for The Future in The Contemporary Globalised World

The changing contours of global value chains post-COVID: Evidence from the Commonwealth

The COVID-19 pandemic emphasised the global value chains (GVCs) debate by focussing on whether gains from GVC participation outweigh firms associated risks of demand and supply shocks amid rising protectionism. This paper bridges the gap between the international trade and management literature by examining the impact of COVID-19 on Commonwealth countries, an area that has received scant attention in academic literature. Using the Eora database, we simulate scenarios to examine Commonwealth countries’ participation in GVCs post-COVID. We draw on the transaction cost economics (TCE) theory to develop a framework that investigates whether growing protectionism, associated with reshoring, decoupling and nearshoring, could potentially affect the constellation and participation of Commonwealth countries in GVCs post-COVID. Results show that trade protectionism is likely to impact the supply chains and lead to GVC reconfiguration, which could offer opportunities for the Commonwealth countries and firms to potentially gain following the geographical redistribution of suppliers.

Intersectional Experiences: Experiences of Commonwealth Female Migrant Architects in the UK

This paper presents the emergent findings of a larger research project on the lived experiences and career outcomes of female migrant architects from the Commonwealth in the UK architectural profession. I will employ a postcolonial feminist analysis, and the paper will, in particular, focus on considering the key challenges related to occupational closure hurdles. In the UK, architecture is a regulated profession. The geographic origin of qualifications is often used as a part of a professional project and closure mechanism, which can be used as a basis for exclusion. Adopting an intersectional framework merging with postcolonial feminist theory with the literature on professionalisation and professional closure, this paper addresses the question: how does the geographic origin of their architectural qualification influence the experiences of female migrant architects from the Commonwealth living and working in the UK? With a commitment to feminist research design, I am carrying out fifty semi-structured interviews with female migrant architects from Commonwealth countries. One of the key findings indicates that the re-qualification and re-certification requirements for labour market participation in the UK can create significant challenges for them. Some of the requalified migrant architects' lived experiences indicate that instead of successfully crossing occupational closure hurdles in terms of re-qualification, intersections of race, gender and migrant status significantly impact their experience at work. This research intends to contribute to the literature on professionalisation and closure of architecture by examining the intersections of migration, race and gender – an intersection hitherto underexamined in the context of architecture.

Shigeru Akita and the Study of British Imperial History in Japan

Abstract Shigeru Akita’s research into global history is solidly based on his study of British imperial history. Starting his career as an imperial historian by probing the role of the Indian army in Britain’s empire, he incorporated such concepts as gentlemanly capitalism, intra-Asian trade, and structural power into his historical analysis of British rule in Asia, an analysis that provided the framework for his picture of global history. Recently he has been studying the process of industrialization in Asian countries within the historical context of the Cold War and decolonization, focusing on the role of development aid. His organizational talent has been amply displayed by his presidency of the Asian Association of World Historians, by his instrumental role in organizing the early activities of the Study Group of British Imperial and Commonwealth History, and by his successful efforts to make Osaka University a leading research center of global history.

THE APPOINTMENT OF ACTING JUDGES IN SOUTH AFRICA AND LESOTHO

The appointment of acting judges is a common practice in many Commonwealth countries, including South Africa and Lesotho. The practice has been criticised as infringing judicial independence. This article explores this criticism with reference to the recent decision of the Lesotho Court of Appeal in Sole v Cullinan, and the Report of the United Nations Special Rapporteur for the Independence of Judges and Lawyers’ fact-finding mission to South Africa in 2000.

Transforming Photographs into a Digital Catalogue

In this article I focus on three aspects of the digitisation of photographic collections which I have had the opportunity to deal with professionally in two museums, in the UK and Poland. In 2014, the Imperial War Museum in London (IMW) implemented an online project of the portal/monument, Lives of the First World War, commemorating all citizens of the British Commonwealth who took part in the First World War (WWI), both in uniform and in civil services. Users registered on the portal could attach documents, photographs, reports to each commemorated soldier-keyword, thus expanding the database. One of the key elements of the project was a collection of portrait photographs bearing the title Bond of Sacrifice. These comprised over 16,000 photographs of soldiers of the British Commonwealth, handed over to the Museum by their families in the years 1917–1919. After nearly a hundred years, the Museum decided to comprehensively develop, digitize, and make the collection available in the form of an online catalogue. In the meantime, the Museum digitised a huge collection of WWI photographs, the so-called Q Series (ca. 115,000), the most important part of which was British official photography. By 2016, the entire collection was scanned and made available in an external catalogue of the Museum on the basis of a non-commercial license. Since then, the photographs have taken on a life of their own: they are used in academic works, press articles, TV productions, and in social medias. The second project includes numerous photographs of the Polish Armed Forces. This phenomenon is dealt with in the second part of this paper, which discusses the online photographic collection of the Silesian Museum in Katowice. The third and final part of this article is devoted to the impact of digitization and on-line accessibility on the making of temporary exhibitions. This is explained using the example of the author’s last exhibition at the museum about women in industry; based entirely on digital reproductions of photographs from the collections of many museums from Europe and the U.S., amongst others the US National Archives and the IWM. This is due to the fact that the author selected the entire material with the use of online catalogues of these very institutions.

Why are Eurasian Communities Disappearing in Malaysian Society?

Abstract This article examines the reasons behind the disappearance of the Eurasian minority in Malaysia to shed light on and understand the general community issues such as discrimination, neglect and slight to no political representation. This is illustrated by the British government’s attitude towards Eurasians, the national identity narrative based on the majority racial categories, policies enforced by the Malaysian government and the prejudices that Eurasians face in their communities, and the racism that mixed individuals are exposed to while living in Asian society. Most factors, including identity problems, racism, the inferiority of mixed-race, discrimination, denial of political representation, and the national policies such as the National Education Policies, New Economic Policy (nep), and the National Language Act has caused many Eurasians to emigrate abroad or to other Commonwealth countries. Currently, Eurasians face reduced visibility and influence as their numbers continue to be overwhelmed by other majority races, including Chinese, Indians and Malays. After independence, the Eurasians became a forgotten community in Malaysia as the nation chose to forget the activities of the Eurasian community during the colonial period. Illustrating the study’s conceptual framework and analysing the literature reviewed revealed that the Eurasians are a marginalised minority group whose identity, nationality, culture, and existence are defined by Malaysian national policies in economic, educational, and language acts.

Hamstring flexibility between male and female cricketers with low back pain: A comparative study

Cricket is a global sport traditionally popular in the commonwealth nations. Low back pain is one of the common ailments in sports and one of the causative factors for the low back pain is reduced hamstring flexibility. Low back pain is highly prevalent in cricketers. Hamstring injuries have always been one of the highest frequency injuries in cricket. The aim of the study is to compare the hamstring muscle length of male and female cricket players associated with low back pain. A sample size of 50 cricketers among the age group of 19-25 were selected based on the inclusion and exclusion criteria. Group A include 25 male cricket players and Group B include 25 female cricket players. Hamstring flexibility is measured using (AKET) active knee extension test. The results obtained shows that there is significant difference in hamstring flexibility between male and female cricketers with low back pain.

British Commonwealth Archives from Far North to Distant South: Neglected Resources for Cold War International History

Abstract British Commonwealth archives constitite a rich and often under-utilized source of material for understanding the international history of the 20th and 21st centuries. From the late 19th Century onward, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand each enjoyed close and confidential relations with not just Britain, but with each other and increasingly, too, with the United States. They also participated in major international organizations at both an official and non-governmental level. Although or perhaps because each was a “middle” rather than “great” power, as each country developed its own diplomatic bureaucracy, their representatives often had informal and even intimate insights into the policies of a wide range of countries. This article introduces the highlights of each nation’s major archival repositories for materials relating to international affairs. While the holdings of the Library and Archives of Canada in Ottawa, the National Archives of Australia and the National Library of Australia in Canberra, and the National Archives of New Zealand in Wellington all feature prominently, the author casts a wider net and draw researchers’ attention to additional important and often under-utilized collections scattered across the different countries.

WESTMINSTER MODEL OF THE PARLIAMENTARY SYSTEM AND HISTORICAL FORMS OF ITS FEDERALIZATION

The article analyzes the historical transformation of the classical model of parliamentarism in the political systems of federal states of the republican form of government at the present stage of development and reveals the features of its functioning. In legal regulation, the mechanism of representative democracy today has varieties. The oldest, time-tested institution is the classical institution of parliamentarism of the Westminster system. But it has also undergone significant changes in connection with its use in states with a federal structure. The objects of the study are the historical forms of representative democracy in the federal states of the British Commonwealth (Canada, the Commonwealth of Australia and the Indian Union), the subject is the institution of the legislative power of the classical type and the forms of its transformation. The relevance of the topic is due to the search for optimal ways for various states to improve the legislative power in the system of separation of powers, the choice of the most effective legal means and methods of functioning of the parliamentary system. For the Russian Federation, despite the differences between the model of legislative power and the classical one, discussions about the political and legal composition of the legislative power are very important, this was noted by researchers when the constitutional reform of the Russian Federation in 2020 was being developed. Research methods are based on the principles of the dialectical approach, including deductive analysis from the standpoint of a formal legal definition of specific historical and legal facts. An important place is occupied by the method of diachronic and synchronous comparison in identifying the general and specific characteristics in the parliamentary systems of federal states, as well as the method of typology, that is, their comparison with the classical model. Based on the study of factual data and analytical studies, common features of the functioning of the legislative power in federal states that adopted the classical model of representative democracy have been identified. The work features of this system in connection with changes in political processes are indicated, the features of the manifestation of the crisis are revealed. Institutional and legal changes are identified in the course of solving current problems related to the distribution of functions of the upper and lower houses of parliament in the legislative process and the implementation of the procedure for monitoring the activities of the executive branch.

Decriminalizing suicide attempt in the 21st century: an examination of suicide rates in countries that penalize suicide, a critical review

BackgroundDecriminalizing suicide may decrease overall suicide rates because then individuals who are at risk of suicide would be more willing to seek help from the community and from mental health professionals, therefore enabling early interventions for preventing suicidality. We aimed to examine the suicide trends over the last 20 years in 20 countries that still criminalize attempted suicide, and to compare the suicide rates of these 20 countries against the global average suicide rate and to a comparison sample of 20 countries that do not criminalize suicide, matched according to region and majority religion.MethodsAge-standardized suicide rates were extracted from the WHO Global Health Estimates, available for the period 2000-2019. Population data were extracted from the World Bank. We analyzed only countries which criminalize attempted suicide under its criminal justice system. Countries were further categorized according to their membership in the Commonwealth of Nations and countries in Africa. Countries from the same region and with the same majority religion were chosen as a matching group. Joinpoint analysis was used to compare the trends of the two groups with the global average.ResultsBased on the 2019 WHO Global Health Estimates data, there is a large range in the suicide rates of the countries that criminalize attempted suicide, from 2.5 (Brunei) to 40.9 (Guyana) per 100,000 population. The mean suicide rate was 8.3 (Standard Deviation = 10.6). Out of the 20 countries, seven have suicide rates higher than the global average, covering a total population of about 387.3 million. Of these seven countries, five are in the African region. The other thirteen countries have suicide rates between 2.5 to 8.2. Mean scores of the countries which criminalized attempted suicide was lower than the global average and 20 comparison countries over the 20 years, but average annual percentage in the decrease of suicide was greater for countries in which attempted suicide was not criminalized.ConclusionsBased on our review, there was no substantial evidence here to indicate that countries which criminalized attempted suicide had consistently lower suicide rates compared to the global average. There is a need to acknowledge that the currently available evidence is inadequate to definitively claim that criminalizing suicide is beneficial or harmful for the reduction of suicide rate for the entire populations. Future studies should continue to evaluate the unique effects of decriminalizing attempted suicide while controlling for other key associated factors.

Performing encounters (and encountering performance) at Auckland Zoo

Performing encounters (and encountering performance) at Auckland Zoo

COMPARATIVE ASSESSMENT OF MACROECONOMIC INDICATORS GROWTH PERFORMANCE BETWEEN INDIA AND NIGERIA

India and Nigeria were colonized by the British empire, got their independence within a given time range, and are among the largest growing economies among developing nations; they were ranked 1st and 3rd most populous among the common wealth countries respectively and both the countries houses significant population of malnourished, poor and food insecure people. The paper comparatively assessed the macroeconomic growth performance between the two countries using time series data that spanned from 1990-2020. Compound growth rate model was fitted to the data to confirm the trend of acceleration, deceleration or stagnation during the period. The results of the study revealed that mean values of GDP and GNI in US dollars at constant prices for India were higher than that of Nigeria by almost 7 times, while Nigeria`s per capita GDP was higher than that of India under the reference period. With respect to the GDP and per capita GDP growth rates, India recorded lower growth but more stable than Nigeria. Further, both the countries recorded highest GDP contributions from Service sector (46 per cent in India and 35 per cent in Nigeria). But the growth rate shows stability in Indian Service sector in contrast to the highest instability in agricultural sector. In Nigeria, on the other hand, agricultural sector got the highest growth contribution to GDP growth-though stagnant and instable, while service sector’s growth contribution to GDP growth was the lowest among other variables. It is recommended that increase budget share to agriculture through proper funding of research, credit support and extension service would help to repositioned agriculture back to its higher (of about 50 per cent) GDP contribution and compete vigorously with other economic sectors in income generation, employment opportunities and poverty reduction in both India and Nigeria.

Perspectives on metropolitan governance

To complement Zack Taylor’s paper on Regionalism from Above: Metro Governance in Canada, the journal commissioned four short ‘perspectives’ from Commonwealth countries grappling with similar issues – Australia, England, New Zealand and South Africa. The purpose was not in any way to ‘review’ Taylor’s work, but rather to establish a broader picture of issues and trends in metropolitan governance, and to identify common threads.&#x0D; The perspectives from Australia, England and South Africa focus on recent developments and governance issues in particular metropolitan areas. These are respectively the fast-growing outer metropolitan sub-region of Western Sydney; the long-established conurbation of Greater Manchester; and the vast, emerging ‘multi-nodal sprawl’ of South Africa’s Gauteng City Region, centred on Johannesburg. The New Zealand perspective takes a different approach, exploring the implications of shifts in national policy towards a focus on wellbeing and the quality of life in communities, with significant implications for the future of local government and the way metropolitan areas are governed.&#x0D; Nevertheless, all four perspectives reveal similar underlying concerns that metropolitan governance frameworks and practices often struggle to keep pace with global trends, urban growth, community needs and national priorities. Effective inter-government relations are crucial, but local governments may not be at the table, or their views may be largely ignored. The governance of metropolitan regions becomes increasingly fraught, a battleground between the forces of devolution and centralisation. How can meaningful and effective collaborative governance be realised? Who should take the lead and do we have the right tools and skills? In such a complex and fluid environment, can we realistically expect anything more than brief periods of clarity and consensus that at least enable agreement on the next few steps?

Institutionalizing the Blue Economy: an examination of variations and consistencies among Commonwealth countries.

The Blue Economy is a catch all term that is used to describe a wide variety of development approaches and priorities in the ocean and coastal areas. A number of distinct, and sometimes conflicting discourses have emerged in relation to the Blue Economy, which are distinguished by the degree to which they prioritize different development objectives. This paper explores the range of Blue Economy interpretations, governance strategies and implementation approaches that exist across Commonwealth countries. Key Blue Economy policy statements and governance instruments are analysed in order to ascertain the way the Blue Economy is being institutionalized at a national level, with reference to the Sustainable Development Goals and the Commonwealth Blue Charter. High-level Blue Economy objectives appear to prioritize economic and environmental objectives, with limited engagement with equity objectives including food security and gender equality. Blue Economy objectives are primarily being institutionalized through a diverse array of strategies, plans and policies with limited information on mechanisms for implementation. Finally, there are signs that the Blue Economy may be facilitating a greater degree of integration across sectoral management, with the emergence of range of boundary-crossing arrangements in a number of the countries examined. This article is part of the theme issue 'Nurturing resilient marine ecosystems'.

Jesus in Schools

The 1872 Education Act stated that education in the state of Victoria would be ‘free, compulsory and secular’. In the years following World War II there was a broadly endorsed imperative to maintain British cultural identity as an essential component of the national character of Australia as a Commonwealth nation. Associated Protestant moral values were believed to be a crucial underpinning of good citizenship and democracy. In 1946 the Council for Christian Education in Schools (CCES) published an Agreed Syllabus for religious instruction in government state schools. In 1950 compulsory religious instruction was introduced into these schools. The representation in associated teaching material reflected a particular understanding of Jesus. A close contextualised reading of CCES curriculum documents from the 1950s reveals distinctive ways in which a ‘British’ Jesus was represented in Victorian classrooms and the extent to which this representation aligned with the interests of the state.

Prelude to Unilateralism: Foreclosed Independence Bids in Pre-Federation Southern Rhodesia, 1948 and 1950

ABSTRACT This article recovers two resolutions, in 1948 and 1950, respectively, by the all-white parliament in Southern Rhodesia (colonial Zimbabwe) that expressed support for the colony’s independence within the British Commonwealth. The examination of these post-war pushes for sovereignty illuminate how Rhodesia’s political leadership was sensitive to wider changes in the imperial status quo, well before the broader white electorate became similarly seized by colonial withdrawal. The motions highlight the gulf between the metropole and local settler leadership, even when the latter were ostensibly firmly backed by imperial policy and domestic black political opposition was comparatively muted. Additionally, the two parliamentary debates elucidate domestic interparty differences. The article is primarily informed by verbatim transcripts of the pertinent legislative proceedings. The deliberations have largely disappeared from the colony’s historiography – a significant omission given the considerable scholarly interest surrounding Southern Rhodesia’s unilateral declaration of independence from Britain in 1965. This article shows that nearly two decades before that fateful step, changing international factors motivated Rhodesia’s political class to consider major steps that would ensure the maintenance of white dominance.

Homebuyer Purchase Decisions: Are They Anchoring to Appraisal Values or Market Prices?

Price discovery is an important research topic in real estate due to the heterogeneous nature of housing attributes and relatively thin trading activities compared to other assets. In Commonwealth countries, including New Zealand, governments usually conduct periodic appraisals for the purpose of collecting rates and levies. Such official appraisal values of properties, also known as capital values (CVs), are considered a price anchor for market participants in their negotiation processes. Real estate agents often use these appraisal values to advertise their listings and negotiate transaction prices. In this study, we aim to make an initial attempt to study the influence of CV on market prices using Granger causality tests and a hedonic pricing model. To test the lead-lag relationships, three million housing transactions from 1990 to 2020 in New Zealand are used to construct the capital values (CVs) and transacted prices (TPs) indices in both primary and secondary housing markets. The Granger causality test suggests that the indices of TPs and CVs have a bi-directional lead-lag relationship in the secondary housing market, whereas the relationship does not follow in the primary market where the information on CVs is unavailable. The results imply the existence of a CV anchoring effect. Such anchoring effects are also contingent on the timeliness of price anchors, which is consistent with the availability heuristic from behavioural economics.

THE BURDEN OF PROOF IN MISREPRESENTATION IN CONTRACTS: A LEGAL ANALYSIS

Misrepressentation in contracts could lead to a contract becoming null and void. Misrepresentations frequently occur, either in physical contracts or online contracts. Therefore, the majority of countries around the world have enacted laws to control misrepresentation. Among the provisions enacted include the burden of proof in misrepresentations in a contract. This study analysed existing legal provisions in several commonwealth countries to identify the burden of proof in misrepresentations. The document analysis method was used to achieve the objectives of this study and involved the analysis of statutes and Acts related to misrepresentation. Findings indicate that there are differences in the burden of proof in misrepresentation found in the legal provisions of each country. The United Kingdom and Australia have clear legal provisions concerning the burden of proof, while Malaysia and India do not. Hence, the legal provisions in Australia and the United Kingdom should be taken as examples for enacting clear provisions in order to avoid any confusion.