The Commonwealth

The Commonwealth

The Commonwealth is a voluntary association of 56 independent and equal countries. It is home to 2.5 billion people, and includes both advanced economies and developing countries. 33 of our members are small states, including many island nations. Our member governments have agreed to shared goals like development, democracy and peace. Our values and principles are expressed in the Commonwealth Charter.

The Commonwealth Secretariat is the intergovernmental organisation that supports member countries to achieve the Commonwealth’s aims of development, democracy and peace. It publishes authoritative, evidence-based research and knowledge products for policymakers, academics, professionals and wider publics across the world. Our areas of focus and expertise include small and developing states; environment and climate change; democracy, law and government; and social issues concerning young people, gender, health and education.

The Governor's Solution

Todd Moss

Reliance on natural resource revenues, particularly oil, is often associated with bad governance, corruption, and poverty. Worried about the effect of oil on Alaska, Governor Jay Hammond had a simple yet revolutionary idea: let citizens have a direct stake. The Governor's Solution features his firsthand account that describes, with brutal honesty and piercing humor, the birth of the Alaska Permanent Fund dividend, which has been paid to each resident every year since 1982.Thirty years later, Hammond's vision is still influencing oil policies throughout the world. This reader, part of the Center for Global Development's Oil-to-Cash initiative, includes recent scholarly work examining Alaska's experience and how other oil-rich societies, particularly Iraq, might apply some of the lessons. It is as a powerful reminder that the combination of new ideas and determined individuals can make a tremendous difference—even in issues as seemingly complex and intractable as fighting the oil curse.

  • Format: Paperback
  • ISBN: 9781933286709
  • Publication Date: Nov 2012
  • Availability: In Stock - Despatched Within 5-7 Working Days

The Rebirth of Education

Lant Pritchett

Despite great progress around the world in getting more kids into schools, too many leave without even the most basic skills. In India's rural Andhra Pradesh, for instance, only about one in twenty children in fifth grade can perform basic arithmetic.The problem is that schooling is not the same as learning. In The Rebirth of Education, Lant Pritchett uses two metaphors from nature to explain why. The first draws on Ori Brafman and Rod Beckstrom's book about the difference between centralized and decentralized organizations, The Starfish and the Spider. Schools systems tend be centralized and suffer from the limitations inherent in top-down designs. The second metaphor is the concept of isomorphic mimicry. Pritchett argues that many developing countries superficially imitate systems that were successful in other nations— much as a nonpoisonous snake mimics the look of a poisonous one.Pritchett argues that the solution is to allow functional systems to evolve locally out of an environment pressured for success. Such an ecosystem needs to be open to variety and experimentation, locally operated, and flexibly financed. The only main cost is ceding control; the reward would be the rebirth of education suited for today's world.

  • Format: Paperback
  • ISBN: 9781933286778
  • Publication Date: Oct 2013
  • Availability: Temporarily out of stock: Usually despatched in 14-18 days

Effectiveness of Aid for Trade in Small and Vulnerable Economies

Massimiliano Calì

This Economic Paper presents the first analyses of the use and effectiveness of Aid for Trade (AfT), the initiative to help developing countries boost their involvement in the global economy. It examines the extent to which SVEs have been able to access AfT funds and to what extent this assistance has helped them to improve their trade performance.

  • Imprint: Commonwealth Secretariat
  • Format: Paperback
  • ISBN: 9781849290487
  • Publication Date: Mar 2011
  • Availability: Temporarily out of stock: Usually despatched in 14-18 days

Small States

This unique annual collection of key economic and statistical data on states with fewer than 5 million inhabitants is an essential reference for economists, planners and policy-makers working on issues of concern to small states. This volume contains 68 tables covering development indicators and 4 articles focusing on the green economy.

  • Imprint: Commonwealth Secretariat
  • Format: Paperback
  • ISBN: 9781849290791
  • Publication Date: Dec 2012
  • Availability: Temporarily out of stock: Usually despatched in 14-18 days

Social Policies in Samoa

Desmond U Amosa

Samoa is a role model in the Pacific region for its economic and social achievements. This in-depth study traces the history of government policy and examines the fundamentals underpinning the country's progress. It also examines how the fa'a Samoa, the culture, enabled the country to build resilience after crises in the 1990s.

  • Imprint: Commonwealth Secretariat
  • Format: Paperback
  • ISBN: 9781849290821
  • Publication Date: Jul 2012
  • Availability: Temporarily out of stock: Usually despatched in 14-18 days

Educators in Exile

Barry Sesnan

This study addresses a gap in the literature on the role and status of teachers in emergencies. Through field research from Kenya, South Africa and Uganda, it identifies issues facing refugee teachers and makes recommendations on how policy can address their needs, and thus improve access to education to populations affected by an emergency.

  • Imprint: Commonwealth Secretariat
  • Format: Paperback
  • ISBN: 9781849290913
  • Publication Date: Feb 2013
  • Availability: Temporarily out of stock: Usually despatched in 14-18 days

Transitioning to a Green Economy

Nadine Smith

What does the concept 'green economy' look like in practice? This book contains case studies from eight small states: Botswana, Grenada, Guyana, Jamaica, Mauritius, Nauru, Samoa and Seychelles. It provides insights into the success of various initiatives and highlights how small states themselves are making practical progress.

  • Imprint: Commonwealth Secretariat
  • Format: Paperback
  • ISBN: 9781849291279
  • Publication Date: Mar 2014
  • Availability: Temporarily out of stock: Usually despatched in 14-18 days

Exterior de las Gallinas

Carlos Sañudo

  • Format: Hardback
  • ISBN: 9788409107544
  • Publication Date: Aug 2019
  • Availability: In Stock - Despatched Within 5-7 Working Days

Differential Diagnosis in Sheep

Hélder Quintas

  • Format: Hardback
  • ISBN: 9788409387571
  • Publication Date: Jun 2022
  • Availability: In Stock - Despatched Within 5-7 Working Days

Unbounded Jews

Bent Blüdnikow

  • Format: Hardback
  • ISBN: 9788712075486
  • Publication Date: Sep 2024
  • Availability: Not Yet Available - Pre-Order Now

The Architecture of Lucknow and Oudh, 1722-1856

Banmali Tandan

  • Format: Hardback
  • ISBN: 9780955788000
  • Publication Date: Mar 2008
  • Availability: In Stock - Despatched Within 5-7 Working Days

Purchasing Contracts

Graham Fuller

Purchasing Contracts is intended to be of assistance to those whose work is with contracts for the procurement of goods and services.

  • Format: Hardback
  • ISBN: 9781904905936
  • Publication Date: Jan 2010
  • Availability: In Stock - Despatched Within 5-7 Working Days

Employee Reward Structures

Jackie Anderson

This is a comprehensive guide to the tax treatment of executive reward packages, from recruitment to termination. Includes a comprehensive glossary of terms, checklists and flowcharts. The sixth edition contains analysis of: the following changes: Taxation of pensions contributions, cap on tax relief for contributions, additional rate relief restriction, alignment of pension input periods, reduction in lifetime allowance, freedom to draw down lump sums Termination payments Significant proposed changes in treatment Employee Benefit Trusts: Important case law developments (Murray Group Holdings) Employee Shareholder Shares: Changes to the relief and proposal to end agreements Employee Share Plans: Streamlining and Self-certification Benefits in kind: Removal of 'lower-paid employee' status Includes complete work on CD-ROM (with cross-references and website resources hyperlinked) with the printed book.

  • Format: Paperback
  • ISBN: 9781910151389
  • Publication Date: Jul 2017
  • Availability: In Stock - Despatched Within 5-7 Working Days

The Glorification of Plunder

Malcolm James

This book is about two things: tax and power. This book explores the complex dynamics of the debates which inform tax policy, the interaction between tax and power and how power relations between various groups in society and between individuals and the state are manifested through tax system. This helps to explain why the rules, procedures and practices are all formulated to suit their interests of the most powerful groups in society.  

  • Format: Paperback
  • ISBN: 9781910151440
  • Publication Date: Sep 2017
  • Availability: In Stock - Despatched Within 5-7 Working Days

VAT and Government Departments

Martin Kaney

VAT and Government Departments is both a reference manual and a practical guide for those managing VAT in Government Departments, their advisers and key suppliers. Government Department VAT has recently been the subject of an HMRC consultation and review with new guidance published in 2015 (consolidated with revised NHS guidance).  

  • Format: Paperback
  • ISBN: 9781907444098
  • Publication Date: Jul 2015
  • Availability: In Stock - Despatched Within 5-7 Working Days

Equality and Anti-Discrimination Law

Mark Butler

Equality and Anti-Discrimination Law covers The Equality Act 2010 and other anti-discrimination protections both within the UK legislation and in the context of EU law. As well as the Equality Act 2010,  other key areas covered include atypical worker protection and family friendly regulation: each of these are discussed  to sufficient detail to enable the reader to gain a working understanding of how each operates.The text takes account of case law from both UK courts, and European Courts where this is needed. This helps show the interaction that UK and EU law has in the area of equality law, and how the systems are interdependent.

  • Format: Paperback
  • ISBN: 9781907444470
  • Publication Date: Dec 2015
  • Availability: In Stock - Despatched Within 5-7 Working Days