How British planners imagined an empire becoming a Commonwealth

Rather than anticipating abrupt imperial withdrawal before the Second World War, some British planning is described as a transition toward a self-governing Commonwealth linked by trade, education, and defence.

Question

Did Britain expect the empire to end and become less willing to invest in colonies before the Second World War?

Short answer

No; the planning described here expected a self-governing Commonwealth linked by trade and defence, although it underestimated the aspirations of the peoples involved.

Notes

Pre-war Britain had not already accepted an imminent end to the empire and stopped thinking about overseas infrastructure. From roughly the 1890s, currents of planning instead envisaged a self-governing empire that would evolve into a Commonwealth. Imperial preference, tariff-free internal trade, educational connections, and close defence integration would bind the members while Britain retained a steering role. The envisioned structure resembles a global alliance and economic bloc more than simple imperial abandonment. This model carried an important weakness: it underestimated the feelings and ambitions of the peoples expected to participate in it.