Royal insignia used across the Commonwealth employed racist iconography, and education opportunities in Britain were promoted as better than those available locally. “As they’ve become a lot more assertive and have a presence that is not just an addendum to the Empire, there is a view that that should be sufficient to carry them through.”įurther still, some believe that the Commonwealth is essentially a form of neocolonialism, a modern continuation of “civilizing missions” in which Western forces aimed to bend Indigenous cultures into their own images. This was a draw for many of the Caribbean nations who were early in their development when the Commonwealth formed, Matthew says, and virtually unknown on the global stage. “Being part of the Commonwealth as conceived could alleviate pressures of going it alone as an independent nation,” Smith says. The Commonwealth affiliation offered support for countries still navigating their new independence, along with cooperation on international goals. When the empire dissolved, it posed new challenges for the colonized countries that had become dependent on Britain for a variety of resources.
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