WI: The Imperial Federation actually set up?

The Imperial Federation was a proposal made around the turn of the twentieth century, which would basically see the British Empire replaced with a more federal state, with all the (white) members sending representatives to a central Federal Parliament in London. This Federal Parliament would chiefly be concerned with defence and foreign affairs, leaving the individual members largely self-governing in domestic affairs. Historically the idea never got off the ground, but if it had been implemented, how long would it last? Would it still be around today? And what effects would the existence of such a power have had on international relations over the last century?
 

Anaxagoras

Banned
I think it would have had a decent chance of being created had World War I been averted. A major factor in the Dominions pushing for full independence, which was realized with the Statute of Westminster in 1932, was the experience of the Dominion governments and Dominion military forces during the war, feeling that they were not respected or appreciated by London and that many thousands perished because of the incompetence of British commanders.

If an Imperial Federation been created and had a decade or two to settle down and become firmly established as an institution, it might well have emerged as one of the superpowers of the 20th and 21st centuries.
 
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