Commonwealth (English history) - International or Multinational, National, Countries that formerly used the style Commonwealth, Subnational

English republican regime, established in 1649 after the execution of Charles I, and lasting until the Instrument of Government created a Protectorate in 1653. It failed to achieve political settlement at home, but its armies pacified Scotland and Ireland. The Navigation Acts (1650, 1651) and war with the Dutch (16524) fostered overseas trade and colonies.

Portions of the summary below have been contributed by Wikipedia.

Thus commonwealth originally meant a state governed for the common good as opposed to an authoritarian state governed for the benefit of a given class of owners.

The type of community indicated by the term commonwealth varies.

International or Multinational

Commonwealth of Nations

When capitalised, "Commonwealth" normally refers to the 53 member Commonwealth of Nations—formerly the "British Commonwealth"—a loose confederation of nations formerly members of the British Empire (with one exception: Mozambique). The Commonwealth's membership includes both republics and monarchies and the (appointed, not hereditary) head of the Commonwealth of Nations is Queen Elizabeth II. The Commonwealth of Nations is sometimes referred as the New Commonwealth in a British context.

Commonwealth of Independent States

The Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) is a loose alliance or confederation consisting of 12 of the 15 former Soviet Republics.

National

Australia

The term also served when the six Australian colonies federated to form the Commonwealth of Australia in 1901. In an Australian context, the term "Commonwealth" (capitalised) thus refers to the federal government and "Commonwealth of Australia" is the official name of the country.

Bahamas

The Bahamas, a Commonwealth Realm, adopted the official title The Commonwealth of the Bahamas upon independence in 1973.

Countries that formerly used the style Commonwealth

Great Britain

The Commonwealth of England was the official name of the political unit (de facto military rule in the name of parliamentary supremacy) that replaced the kingdoms of Scotland and England (after the English Civil War) under the rule of Oliver Cromwell and his son and successor Richard from 1649 to 1660. The Cromwellian Commonwealth is sometimes referred to as the Old Commonwealth in a British context.

Former Labour MP Tony Benn introduced a Commonwealth of Britain Bill several times which would abolish the monarchy and establish a British republic.

Iceland

Icelandic Commonwealth (Þjóðveldið Íslands) 930-1262.

Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, Commonwealth of Poland

Commonwealth is still an alternative translation of the official name of the Republic of Poland and Lithuania (Rzeczpospolita). In contemporary political doctrine of Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, "our state is a Republic (Commonwealth) under presidency of the King". The foundation stones of the Commonwealth (also called the Golden Freedoms) used to be

free election of the king Pacta conventa, a binding pledge agreed to by the King on his election rokosz, the right of rebellion against kings who did not rule in accordance with their pledge liberum veto (a later development), the right for a single representative to veto the entire proceedings of the Sejm confederatio (confederation), a military organisation of the citizens for the attainment of common political aims.

It is worth noting that "A commonwealth of good counsaile" was the title of the 1607 English translation of the work of Wawrzyniec Grzymała Goślicki "De optimo senatore" that presented to English readers many of the ideas present in the political system of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.

Philippines

This was the Commonwealth of the Philippines in free association with the USA between 1935 and 1946.

Subnational

United States

Four states in the United States officially designate themselves "commonwealths": Kentucky, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and Virginia.

"Commonwealth" is also used in the U.S. to describe the political relationship between the United States and the overseas unincorporated territories of Puerto Rico and of the Northern Mariana Islands.