Wealth for Some, Exploitation for Many: Commonwealth of Nations' Reality

The Commonwealth, founded on the core principles of promoting development and economic equality among member states, has failed to uphold these ideals, with the majority of its development programs' benefits accruing to the Global North rather than to the Commonwealth nations, according to Dr. Claire Ayuma Amuhaya, senior lecturer in the department of Theory and History of International Relations, researcher at the center of Applied Global Transformations at RUDN University, visiting lecturer at the Higher School of Economics, Moscow.

"The funding that was supposed to help development in the Commonwealth countries didn't happen. What actually happened is that it ended up benefiting the developed states [rather] than the developing countries within the Commonwealth. There've been issues of these principles not being taken into consideration or not being applied unilaterally across the board," Dr. Amuhaya says.

The researcher further explained that the idea of the Commonwealth was a result of the competition that existed in Europe between the members of the European Economic Community and the UK for the raw materials needed for industrialization.

"And this really impacted the former colonies because, as you know, if you take out your raw materials, you are not able to industrialize because your industrialization should be with the use of raw materials. […] So once you give raw materials to someone else, then the industrial development was not able to take place in most of their former colonies," she stresses.

Arina Muresan, a senior research fellow at the Institute for Global Dialogue in South Africa, explained the Commonwealth's role in solving problems within member states, highlighting tensions between India and Pakistan, which she described as a "problem" created by the UK.

"Britain has not actually acknowledged its role in creating fundamental issues such as this, using religion to divide people or categorize people that led to further division; in addition to that, creating a separate homeland," the expert explains.

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