NAM
Background
• The Non-Aligned Movement was formed during the Cold War as an organization of States that
did not seek to formally align themselves with either the United States or the Soviet Union,
but sought to remain independent or neutral.
• The basic concept for the group originated in 1955 during discussions that took place at the
Asia-Africa Bandung Conference held in Indonesia. T
• he first NAM Summit Conference took place in Belgrade, Yugoslavia, in September 1961.
• It has 120 members as on April 2018 comprising 53 countries from Africa, 39 from Asia, 26
from Latin America and the Caribbean and 2 from Europe (Belarus, Azerbaijan). There are 17
countries and 10 international organizations that are Observers at NAM.
• The Non-Aligned Movement was founded and held its first conference (the Belgrade
Conference) in 1961 under the leadership of Josip Broz Tito of Yugoslavia, Gamal Abdel Nasser
of Egypt, Jawaharlal Nehru of India, Kwame Nkrumah of Ghana, and Sukarno of Indonesia.
• The purpose of the organization was enumerated in Havana Declaration of 1979 to ensure "the
national independence, sovereignty, territorial integrity and security of non-aligned countries"
in their struggle against imperialism, colonialism, neocolonialism, racism, and all forms of
foreign subjugation.
• During the cold war era the NAM played a vital role in stabilizing the world order and
preserving peace and security. Non alignment of NAM doesn't mean the neutrality of state on
global issues, it was always a peaceful intervention in world politics.
Principles
As J.L Nehru was founding members, the principles of NAM was largely guided by Panchsheel
principles, some of them are:
• Respect for the principles enshrined in the charter of the United Nations and international law.
• Respect for sovereignty, sovereign equality and territorial integrity of all States.
• Peaceful settlement of all international conflicts in accordance with the charter of the United
Nations.
• Respect for the political, economic, social and cultural diversity of countries and peoples.
• Defence and promotion of shared interests, justice and cooperation, regardless of the
differences existing in the political, economic and social systems of the States, on the basis of
mutual respect and the equality of rights.
• Respect for the inherent right of individual or collective self-defence, in accordance with the
charter of the United Nations .
• Non-interference in the internal affairs of States. No State or group of States has the right to
intervene either directly or indirectly, whatever the motive, in the internal affairs of any other
State.
• Promotion and defence of multilateralism and multilateral organisations as the appropriate
frameworks to resolve, through dialogue and cooperation, the problems affecting humankind.
At present, an additional goal is facilitating a restructuring of the international economic order.
NAM in Cold War Era
• Against Apartheid: The evil of apartheid was massively prevalent in African countries like South
Africa, its was on the agenda of NAM right from first conference. During 2nd NAM conference
at Cairo the government of South Africa was warned against the discriminatory practices of
apartheid.
• Disarmament: The Non-aligned Movement repeatedly comes out for maintenance of
peace,'the cessation of arms race and the peaceful coexistence of all States. In the General
Assembly, India submitted a draft resolution declaring that the use of nuclear weapons would
be against the charter of the United Nations and crime against humanity and should therefore
be prohibited.
• UNSC reforms: Right from its inception NAM was in the favour of UNSC reforms, it was against
the domination of US and USSR. It wanted the representation of third world countries to make
UNSC more democratic. Members echoed with same demand at 17th NAM conference at
Venezuela.
• Failed to resolve regional tensions: In the era of cold war the tension in South Asia escalated
due to regional conflict between India- China and India-Pakistan. NAM failed to avoid tensions
in the region, that further led to the the nuclearisation of the region.
Relevance of NAM:
NAM continues to hold relevance as a platform and due to its principles.
• World peace - NAM has played an active role in preserving world [Link] still stands by its
founding principles, idea and purpose i.e. to establish the peaceful and prosperous world. It
prohibited invasion of any country, promoted disarmament and a sovereign world order.
• Territorial integrity and sovereignty - NAM stands with this principle and proved its repeated
relevance with the idea of preserving the independence of every nation.
• Third World nations - Third world countries fighting against socio-economic problems since
they have been exploited for a long time by other developed nations, NAM acted as a protector
for these small countries against the western hegemony.
• Support of UN - NAM’s total strength compromises of 118 developing countries and most of
them being a member of UN General Assembly. It represents two third members of general
assembly, hence NAM members act as important vote blocking group in UN.
• Equitable world order - NAM promotes equitable world order. It can act as a bridge between
the political and ideological differences existing in the international environment.
• Interest of developing countries - If disputes arise between developed and developing nation
at any point of a concerned topic for example WTO, then NAM act as a platform which
negotiates and conclude disputes peacefully securing the favorable decisions for each member
nation.
• Economic growth - The countries of NAM has inherent assets, such as a favourable
demography, demand and favourable location. The cooperation can lead them to higher and
sustainable economic growth. Can be an alternative to regional groupings like TPP and RCEP