A message from the Chair
Officially the centenary of The Round Table journal (started in the Edwardian era) does not start until 2010. But our preparations, as you can see from our website, are running on apace.
And I thought it would be good to provide a monthly update for readers and supporters of our journal, starting in July 2009 after my re-election for a final year as Chair of the editorial advisory board, (known since the early twentieth century as the Moot).
Richard Bourne
View the messages by selecting any of the links below:
Archive of Chair's messages
Below can be found an archive of all the messages written by Richard Bourne, the Chair of the Moot, which is the editorial advisory board for The Round Table
- August 2010 - Australia's Commonwealth
Australia's inconclusive election meant that whoever became Prime Minister -- Julia Gillard for Labor, or Tony Abbott for the Liberal/ National coalition -- would preside over the first Commonwealth summit they had ever attended. This is not unprecedented. Read More... - July 2010 - Fair Elections?
How free and fair will elections be in the Commonwealth's newest member, Rwanda? Its presidential election is planned for 9 August, and already the UN Secretary-General has demanded a full inquiry into allegations of politically motivated killings of opposition figures. Read More... - June 2010 - Empire and Me
A big difference between two post-colonial associations-la Francophonie and the Commonwealth-is that the first began as a cultural and linguistic body, while the second has its roots in politics and economics. Read More... - May 2010 - Democracy and coalitions
So the United Kingdom, one of the 54 member states of the Commonwealth, has acquired a Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition government. After a first-past-the-post election in which no party had a majority, the politicians have quite quickly created the first coalition since Churchill's in wartime. Read More... - March 2010 - Reforming the commonwealth
Over the next few months the outlines of a third attempt since 1989 to reform the Commonwealth will become clearer. In Port of Spain last November the leaders decided to appoint an Eminent Persons' Group to examine the processes and future of the association. Read More... - February 2010 - A Zimbabwean experience
It was when a cab driver, taking me to the University of Zimbabwe just outside Harare, told me that he was an old man, that the full extent of his country's catastrophe hit me. He was only 55. Yet such has been the crash in life expectancy in just over a decade that he has become, actuarially, an old man. Read More... - January 2010 - The Commonwealth - A great global good?
Is the Commonwealth, as Kamalesh Sharma has claimed, "A great global good"? This was the title of the Round Table's third centenary conference and, in a frank, no-nonsense discussion at Cumberland Lodge, Windsor, the answer was "Maybe - but it could do better." Read More... - December 2009 - A post-CHOGM summary 2009
The captains and kings have departed, and Port of Spain, site of the 21st Commonwealth summit attended by Derek Ingram, veteran commentator, has returned to its usual traffic jams, sense of humour and Caribbean vibe. Read More... - November 2009 - Commonwealth as a champion of small states
How successful is the Commonwealth as a champion of small states - some 32 out of the total membership of 53? And does its activity for the smaller members damage or enhance the interest shown in it by its medium sized and stronger countries? Read More... - October 2009 - Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) 2009
Last month I mentioned that the Commonwealth's biennial cycle was ripening up in anticipation of the leaders' summit in Trinidad and Tobago at the end of November (27-29 November to be exact). Read More... - September 2009 - Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) 2009
The Commonwealth moves in a biennial cycle, and diplomats and lobbyists are now gearing up for the summit in Port of Spain from 27 to 29 November, 2009. Read More... - August 2009 - Winner of 1st Routledge/Round Table award
This month I can now say something about the winner of the first Routledge/Round Table award, tenable at the Institute of Commonwealth Studies, University of London. Read More... - July 2009 - Round Table centenary scholarships
For this month we have begun with a bang. Eight hundred people inquired, 112 put in completed applications, and six students at universities in the UK were awarded the special Round Table centenary scholarships which are funding travel and fieldwork in other Commonwealth countries. Read More...