An Oral History of the Modern Commonwealth, 1965-2010

现代联邦的口述历史，1965-2010

• 批准号: AH/J006548/1
• 负责人: Philip Murphy
• 金额: $ 50.74万
• 依托单位: University of London
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Research Grant
• 财政年份: 2012
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2012 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=AH%2FJ006548%2F1
• 关键词: Oral; History; Modern; Commonwealth; 1965

The aim of this project is to produce a unique digital research resource on the oral history of the Commonwealth since 1965. It will conduct 60 major interviews with leading figures in the recent history of the organisation, which will be available in digitised form on a dedicated website hosted by the School of Advanced Study's 'SAS Space'. The project seeks to produce a Commonwealth equivalent of the British Diplomatic Oral History Programme based at Churchill College, Cambridge. It will provide an essential research tool for anyone investigating the history of the Commonwealth and will serve to promote interest in and understanding of the organisation. 1965 represented a major turning point in the history of the Commonwealth. The organisation had emerged from the remnants of the British Empire. Originally bringing together Britain and the self-governing 'Dominions', post-war decolonization saw the ranks of its members swelled by newly-independent states from Asia, Africa and the Caribbean, decisively altering its character. With the creation of the Commonwealth Secretariat in 1965, Britain ceased to play the central coordinating role (although the British monarch continued to hold the title of Head of the Commonwealth). The focus of the organisation shifted in the 1960s towards the struggle to achieve black majority rule in Rhodesia and South Africa. From the 1990s, with the end of apartheid, there was a new emphasis on promoting human rights and good governance. Despite these changes, however, some essential characteristics of the Commonwealth remained constant: it operated essentially through informal discussion and persuasion; it lacked a constitution or founding treaty; and the 'official' Commonwealth was part of a broader network including a variety of civil society organisations, many of them considerably older than the Secretariat. The crucial question for contemporary policy makers, and one that the project seeks to explore, is how effective the Commonwealth has been as an organisation. This shapes debates about the amount of time and effort member states should be prepared to devote to it. In the case of British government, since the 1960s there has been a tendency for new administrations to come to power promising to place greater emphasis on this 'under-utilised resource', only to sideline the Commonwealth in the pursuit of more tangible foreign policy goals. Analysis of the archives of the Commonwealth Secretariat provides one means of seeking to gauge the significance of the organisation. Yet this collection tends to cast more light on the Secretariat's administrative role than on the Commonwealth's contribution to international diplomacy. This project seeks to investigate, through the use of detailed interviews with some of the leading protagonists, those elements of the Commonwealth's activities that are not easily captured in written records. These would include the informal and often highly sensitive diplomacy conducted via the Secretary-General's good offices. They would also include candid assessments of the way in which the Commonwealth was perceived by representatives from the member states.

该项目的目的是产生一个独特的数字研究资源，自1965年以来的英联邦口述历史。它将对该组织近期历史上的60位主要人物进行采访，这些采访将以数字化形式在高等研究学院的“SAS空间”主办的专门网站上提供。该项目旨在创建一个类似于剑桥丘吉尔学院的英国外交口述历史项目的英联邦项目。它将为任何研究英联邦历史的人提供一个重要的研究工具，并将有助于促进对该组织的兴趣和理解。1965年是英联邦历史上的一个重要转折点。这个组织是从大英帝国的残余中产生的。最初将英国和自治的“自治领”结合在一起，战后的非殖民化看到了其成员队伍的膨胀，来自亚洲，非洲和加勒比地区的新独立国家，决定性地改变了其性质。随着1965年英联邦秘书处的成立，英国不再扮演中心协调角色（尽管英国君主继续拥有英联邦元首的头衔）。20世纪60年代，该组织的重点转向了在罗得西亚和南非实现黑人多数统治的斗争。从20世纪90年代起，随着种族隔离制度的结束，南非开始重视促进人权和善政。然而，尽管发生了这些变化，英联邦的一些基本特征仍然保持不变：它主要通过非正式的讨论和说服来运作；它缺乏宪法或创始条约；“官方”英联邦是一个更广泛的网络的一部分，其中包括各种民间社会组织，其中许多组织比秘书处要老得多。当代政策制定者面临的关键问题，也是本项目试图探索的问题，是英联邦作为一个组织的有效性如何。这影响了关于成员国应该准备投入多少时间和精力的辩论。以英国政府为例，自20世纪60年代以来，新一届政府上台以来一直有一种趋势，即承诺更加重视这一“未充分利用的资源”，只是为了追求更切实的外交政策目标而把英联邦放在一边。对英联邦秘书处档案的分析提供了一种衡量该组织重要性的方法。然而，这本合集往往更多地关注秘书处的行政作用，而不是英联邦对国际外交的贡献。本项目力求通过对一些主要人物的详细访谈，调查英联邦活动中不易用书面记录记录的那些因素。这将包括通过秘书长的斡旋进行的非正式和往往高度敏感的外交。它们还将包括对成员国代表对英联邦的看法的坦率评估。

项目成果

The Commonwealth and the Cold War, Neutralism, and Non-Alignment

英联邦与冷战、中立主义和不结盟

• DOI: 10.1080/07075332.2015.1053965
• 发表时间: 2015
• 期刊: The International History Review
• 作者: Onslow S

Voices of the Commonwealth: An Oral History of the Modern Commonwealth 1965-2012

英联邦之声：1965-2012 年现代英联邦的口述历史

• DOI: 10.1080/00358533.2016.1272958
• 发表时间: 2017
• 期刊: The Round Table
• 作者: Onslow S

The Empire's New Clothes: The Myth of the Commonwealth

帝国的新衣：联邦的神话

• 发表时间: 2018
• 作者: Murphy Philip

Choosing a New Secretary General: More Politicking?

选择新秘书长：更多政治活动？

• DOI: 10.1080/00358533.2015.1005361
• 发表时间: 2015
• 期刊: The Round Table
• 作者: Onslow S

Subaltern geopolitics and the post-colonial Commonwealth, 1965-1990

底层地缘政治和后殖民英联邦，1965-1990

• DOI: 10.1016/j.polgeo.2018.04.003
• 发表时间: 2018
• 期刊: Political Geography
• 影响因子: 4.1
• 作者: Craggs R