By the early twentieth century, the word colony was found to be demeaning to the status of Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and the group of states that would shortly form the Union of South Africa. It was first used before the American Revolution to refer to Britain's colonies, and British statesmen in the nineteenth century occasionally employed the phrase to refer to colonies within the empire. In its modern usage, the term Commonwealth is best understood as referring to the family of nations originating in the British Empire. From its origins as an association of dominions within the empire, to its rapid expansion during decolonization in the 1960s, the Commonwealth has never lived up to the aspirations of its more ambitious supporters, but it survives because of the modest benefits associated with membership, and as a symbol of connections and ideals associated with the empire and with British parliamentary democracy. Composed of independent and self-governing nations formerly belonging to the British Empire, membership in the Commonwealth is voluntary, requiring only adherence to basic standards of good internal governance. The British Commonwealth is the world's oldest political association of states.
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