The Empire's New Clothes The Myth of the Commonwealth [Hardcover]

In the wake of Brexit, the Commonwealth has been identified as an important body for future British trade and diplomacy, but few know what it actually does. How is it organized and what has held it together for so long? How important is the Queen's role as Head of the Commonwealth? Most importantly, why has it had such a troubled recent past, and is it realistic to imagine that its fortunes might be reversed?InThe Empire's New Clothes,? Murphy strips away the gilded self-image of the Commonwealth to reveal an irrelevant institution afflicted by imperial amnesia. He offers apersonal perspective on this complex and poorly understood institution, and asks if it can ever escape from the shadow of the British Empire to become an organization based on shared values, rather than a shared history.



Preface

Chapter One: What Does the Commonwealth Mean to You?

Chapter Two: Meet the Family
Whose Commonwealth?
The Birth of the Secretariat
The Other 'Commonwealths'

Chapter Three: Meet the Members

Chapter Four: Long to Reign Over Us?
Crowns: Divided and Subtracted
Time Come?
Head of the Commonwealth

Chapter Five: Guilt

Chapter Six: Values

Chapter Seven: On the Road to Colombo

Chapter Eight: Empire 2.0?
Brexit
The Economic Myth of the Commonwealth
A House Divided

Conclusion: Shattering the Myth

Mercurial, maverick and mischievous, Murphy writes as an outsider-insider, having been head of the Institute of Commonwealth Studies for a number of years. This is going to shake the tree. And about time. -- Joanna Lewis, Associate Professor of International History, London School of Economics.Times Higher EducationBooks of the Year

Philip Murphy's is a witty, informative and much-needed critique from an insider who writes with a wealth of experience as well as an astute awareness of the gap between rhetoric and reality. His book is a l³"