From post-colonial to international relations: the growth of multi-ethnic, multiracial intergovernmental organizations.

THE EUROPEAN EMPIRES were an amalgam of independent, semi-independent and dependent territories held together by economic, strategic, political, demographic and cultural ties with the metropolitan country that varied greatly in strength and character. The transfer of sovereignty during the decolonization process did not conclude the European ambitions for a continuing role in their former colonies. For the United Kingdom and France, the colonies and the widespread influence they represented for the metropolitan country were economically and militarily exhausted. Both therefore sought a means of advantageous association with their colonies war, although the adverse international climate, metropolitan weakness and nationalism in the colonies all militated against the reimposition of colonial rule and unreformed colonialism in particular.

The British-centred Commonwealth is one of the oldest international organizations, having started at the end of the nineteenth century. Its character as a multiracial, multi-ethnic association, however, came into being with the independence of India, Pakistan and Ceylon (Sri Lanka) in 1947-1948 and their incorporation as members. The Commonwealth grew rapidly--currently with 53 members--with the transfer of power to several former colonies in the 1960s. The British did not or could not craft durable ties with each colony before independence, but looked to the Commonwealth as the main conduit for providing desirable links and retaining influence after independence. Accordingly, Great Britain had a much more arms-length relationship with its ex-colonies than France.

French decolonization went on until 1962, with the most emotional case coming at the very end of the process. Neither the 1946 French Union nor the 1958 Community provided a successful machinery of association between France as the metropolitan power and its dependencies, and the Algerian crisis brought about the end of the Fourth Republic and the start of the Fifth, when the French were able to chart a new course after 1960 in the pursuit of constructing a new architecture for European unity.

Senegal's President Leopold Senghor's original concept of la Francophonie was influenced by the Commonwealth, but his idea was based on cultural harmony, combining negritude with French civilization and culture and francophone solidarity. His proposal was for an association that would lead to a great community of peoples sharing the same ideals while having their own particular interests and civilizations preserved. However, the French Government strongly preferred the route of bilateralism with its former dependencies to secure its objectives of creating the Franc Zone, ensuring raw material supplies and concluding defence agreements and technical cooperation accords. Rather than encourage la Francophonie, France chose to concentrate first on Europe. The original Francophonie summit eventually took place in 1986--ten held thus far--and in 1997 an official Organisation de la Francophonie (OIF) was established. By 2006, OIF comprised 53 members and 10 observers; thanks to its composition, the organization has become a substantive forum with a broad agenda.

Communidade dos Paises de Lingua Portuguesa (CPLP)--the Community of Portuguese-speaking Countries--began even later, since it was conditioned by decolonization and came long after Portugal's decolonization process has been completed. There was some inspiration drawn from the Commonwealth's example, and its foundation followed Mozambique's admission to it. CPLP was established in Lisbon in 1996 to promote concerted political and diplomatic action among seven members--Angola, Brazil, Cape Verde, Guinea Bissau, Mozambique, Portugal, and Sao Tome and Principe--with the aim of strengthening cooperation and helping members to expand their influence in international organizations. Timor-Leste joined as the eighth member in 2002 and there are two observers.

Organizacion de Estados Iberoamericanos (OEI) para la Educacion, la Ciencia y la Cultura--Organization of Iberian-American States for Education, Science and Culture-began in 1949 as the Office of Latin American Education. In 1954, it became an intergovernmental organization of sovereign States and in 1985 expanded its objectives and approved new Statutes of Association that include promoting Spanish and Portuguese. OEI now has 22 members, including Spain and Portugal, and two observers (Puerto Rico and Equatorial Guinea). Although its original project may have been to concentrate on non-political cooperation, the character of OEI changed as Heads of State and Government started to discuss a broad-ranging political and economic agenda at its annual meetings.

Each European colonial empire had been largely self-contained, although among their common features were a protected market for investment and trade, a common language, legal and administrative systems, educational methods and migration to and from the dependencies. The Commonwealth is held by supporters to be unique, but perhaps it is more a traditional than a formal organization. Its links are emotional and historical, but its claim to uniqueness lies more in its survival than in its modus operandi. It inspired the architects of the French Union, the short-lived Dutch-Indonesian Union, OIF and CPLP, and undoubtedly shares several characteristics with those associations.

The United Kingdom was neither forced to escape from authoritarianism nor traumatized by the return of expatriates in large numbers to complicate domestic politics. The general lack of bitterness attending the British transfers of power was in stark contrast with many colonial endings in Africa and Asia of other European empires. There was comparatively little armed conflict or displacement of expatriate settlers-the Malaysian emergency, Cyprus and the Mau Mau were some of the exceptions to the rule. These factors enabled Britain's post-imperial adjustment to take place more swiftly than in the other metropolitan countries.

In post-colonial organizations, some major ex-colonies did not participate. In the Commonwealth, Ireland and Burma (Myanmar) have stayed away, while in OIF, Algeria and Syria are not present. Britain continued with a Sterling Area for some decades after the Second World War, and France has introduced and sustained a Franc Zone with 15 countries in Africa. The creation of the secretariats of both organizations took some time to evolve: the Commonwealth in 1965 and OIF in 1997. Their main architects at first considered giving the more weighty members a predominant role-an inner core and a periphery-before abandoning such idea in favour of national equality. Both hold a summit every two years and have generated a multitude of civil society activity. Since 1993, civil society organizations accredited to the Commonwealth have organized events in the margins of summit meetings.

There are as many dissimilarities as well. The Union and the Community gave way to OIF, but the Commonwealth has survived. While the United Kingdom initially relied on the Commonwealth to provide continuing links with its former colonies, OIF was more incidental for France, as most of the colonies are more closely bound to it by various treaty obligations. The precursors of OIF, namely the Agence dc Cooperation Culturelle et Technique (ACCT)-which metamorphosed into the Agence Intergouvernmentale de la Francophonie (AIF), now the main organ of OIF-started when the United Kingdom had already shed most of its optimism and nostalgia for the Empire and the Commonwealth. There is little room for doubt that the British conceived the Commonwealth, whereas the initiative for OIF came not from France but from the leaders of francophone Africa. The French enterprise began slowly with cultural, linguistic and technical linkages, and moved cautiously to a political agenda; whereas the Commonwealth began with political consultations and came to adopt structured development cooperation after 1971.

France showed more interest in ACCT/AIF/OIF after its construction, along with West Germany, of a united new Europe. On the other hand, the Commonwealth was seen by France as a delaying and negative factor in the United Kingdom's entry to the European Economic Community (EEC). France is the largest country in OIF in population, while the United Kingdom is fifth in the Commonwealth, but both have the largest number of persons speaking the official language and by far the largest economies in their respective organizations. Whereas Canada might at times challenge Paris for influence in la Francophonie, the United Kingdom has no such rival in the Commonwealth. France did not get embroiled in any heated discussion of colonial issues since OIF was founded long after major colonial issues, such as the Viet Nam and Algerian conflicts, had been resolved. By contrast, the Commonwealth secretariat might not have come into being or so soon had it not been for the British-African clash over Rhodesia. Unlike in the Commonwealth, no country has left or been suspended or expelled from OIF.

In comparison, CPLP took a long time into conception-a full 23 years after Portugal's escape from the authoritarian rule that enabled the colonies to achieve their independence. Unlike India-the biggest country by far in the Commonwealth that opted to join the organization at its independence-Brazil as the most populous country in CPLP was initially cool to the concept of any lusaphone association. The Portuguese set up the post-colonial organization after its EEC membership, which served to enhance Lisbon's prestige in Europe. CPLP also places considerable emphasis on the promotion of the common Portuguese language.

OEI also had a languorous start, having begun in 1949 as an association to enhance cooperation in education, science and culture. It evolved slowly into an intergovernmental body and as an organization under the leadership of Heads of State and Government in 1991. Spain and Portugal hold a predominant position in OEI, raising their profile in Europe, while they seek to defend the interests of the Latin American members in the European Union. The organization, which meets annually, has as one of its objectives the promotion of the Spanish and Portuguese languages.

The English-speaking Union launched by Sir Evelyn Wrench in the early twentieth century remains a civil society-based cultural and social institution. There have not yet been any steps taken to create an intergovernmental Anglophone community nor for that matter is there any Commonwealth agenda to promote English, despite or perhaps because of the nearly worldwide adoption of English today. The largest and most influential English-speaking country is neither the United Kingdom nor India, but the United States, which was never in the Commonwealth.

Krishnan Srinivasan has been Permanent Secretary of the Indian Ministry of External Affairs, Commonwealth Deputy Secretary-General and a Fellow of Cambridge and London Universities. He has published several books, including The Rise, Decline and Future of the British Commonwealth.

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