After three comparatively dismal and difficult decades, the 1990s were good for the Commonwealth. The organization’s clubbish nature was more suited to the 1990s’ changing strategic landscape than to the Cold War period, and it was no longer divided by racial turmoil in southern Africa. The Commonwealth has been exceptional in monitoring member states’ governance and implementing measures (the 1995 Millbrook Plan of Action). It is also outperforming analogous organizations such as la Francophonie, the Lusaphones, and the Non-Aligned Movement. Two of the Commonwealth’s several diplomatic strengths are leaders’ summitry and the “good offices” of the secretary-general. The first of these could be used more often; the second has been used with consistent and considerable success, outshining efforts by UN secretaries-general, the other main practitioner of “good offices” diplomacy.
