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The Commonwealth Journal of International Affairs is published six times a year.
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Contributions on these themes, to the Editor are particularly welcome.How Commonwealth countries dealt with Covid-19.
Exploring key lessons from the 2019 general elections in Nigeria.
From the Archive
As we mark the Platinum Jubilee, we revisit this article from ten years ago, in which Sir Peter Marshall, a long-serving senior diplomat and Commonwealth official, offered personal reflections on the Queen’s reign and her role as head of the Commonwealth. Emphasising the theme of service, he also suggests that she has been the Commonwealth’s unifying force.
The Queen is of course head of the Commonwealth as well as monarch of many of its member countries. In this article published at the beginning of her reign Dermot Morrah (an ‘Arundel Herald’ as well as editor of the Round Table journal) gave a history of the coronation service, and suggested various ways in which it could be changed to reflect the Commonwealth dimensions of her role. In later articles, he called for a peripatetic monarchy, spending time in each Commonwealth realm.
One of the key tasks of a Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting is to choose a new Secretary-General, or to confirm the incumbent in the role. It is often said that the process for choosing a Commonwealth Secretary-General is less transparent than that for choosing a Pope. In this article from 2017 Mark Robinson compares the practices of the Commonwealth and the United Nations.