Background of NAM

• The end of the Second World War saw a new international order not known to the world earlier.
• The international system came to be dominated by two superpowers—the United States of America (USA) and the erstwhile Soviet Union (USSR).
• These two superpowers tried to influence other countries militarily, economically, as well as ideologically.
• Both the USA and the USSR were engaged in an intensified propaganda against each other and spent huge sums on it.
•  They wanted to bring other countries to their respective spheres of influence, and for this purpose, they created security and economic alliances after the Second World War.
•  As a consequence, the world became bipolar, and an intense bloc politics, where the two superpowers were engaged in building their own blocs, emerged.
• This led to mutual distrust, hatred and sharp rivalry between the two superpowers.
• The USA, in order to counter the spread of communism, encouraged West European nations to create the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), a military alliance, in 1949.
• The Soviet Union countered the NATO by forming the Warsaw Pact, another military alliance of East European nations, in 1955.
• Though these military alliances were initially formed in Europe after the Second World War, the Americans and the Soviets gradually tried to bring other Asian, African and Latin American countries under their military and economic influences.
•  As a consequence, two ‘supra national’ blocs emerged in world politics.
• The world was sharply being split into a ‘communist’ part, and what the Americans called the ‘free world’.
•  A parallel line of thought opposing this bipolar nature of the world was also evolving after the Second World War.
•  Some developing nations defied the call of the superpowers to join their blocs, and nurtured the dream of a world free of bloc politics and the intense political tension associated with it.
• Some newly independent nation-states showed greater inclination to maintain their autonomy outside bloc politics.
• They felt that rendering allegiance to any of the superpowers would infringe upon their freedom to decide their own course after the much-awaited independence of their motherlands.
•  Prominent among these newly-independent developing countries was India, which rejected the idea of joining any bloc after the Second World War.
• Jawaharlal Nehru, the first Prime Minister of India, was opposed to militarism and preferred relying more on the age-old Indian traditions of non-violence and peaceful cooperation among nation-states.
•  He was joined by Indonesian President Sukarno and Egyptian President Nasser, and they endeavoured to create a world free of bloc politics and military alignments.
•  It was due to their efforts that the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) emerged and gathered strength in world politics after the Second World War.
• The Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) belongs to the developing world and is a coalition of small and middle-sized states of the developing world, mostly former colonies.
•  Taking its roots from the Belgrade Conference in 1961 with the participation of 25 countries, NAM has grown over the years through several conferences and now more than 100 countries are its members.
• The non-aligned countries devised a flexible organizational structure and they meet from time to time in different regions of the world to garner support for some specific issues and also to promote their objectives.
• The NAM has been a major movement in international relations, primarily aiming at changing the existing global structure and creating a more just, equal and peaceful world order.
•  In essence, it is an anti-imperialist movement.
• Several related terms help clarify what non-alignment is not: 
  • Isolationism: aloof from international relations (unlike NAM).
  • Non-commitment: detachment in multi-power politics.
  • Neutrality: temporary legal status during war.
  • Neutralisation: permanent neutrality (e.g., Switzerland).
  • Unilateralism: taking independent risks/decisions.
  • Non-involvement: avoiding ideological struggles.
• It distinct foreign policy approach opposing Cold War blocs, militarism, and aggressive power politics. In essence, non-alignment means:
  • Independence in foreign policy,
  • Rejection of Cold War alliances,
  • Commitment to peace, cooperation, and national interest,
  • Active participation in international affairs based on autonomous judgement
• According to Nehru, “Non-alignment is a policy that means an attempt by a nation to keep itself off the military blocs. It means trying to view the things from as far as possible, not just from a military point of view though that has to come in sometime. Everyone must have an independent viewpoint and must have friendly relations with every country.”Nehru represented non-alignment because of the principle of independent policy it preached. In straightforward words, non-alignment suggests such an overseas policy, that while keeping herself free from conflict and military alliances, a country actively participates in diplomacy.
•  According to Appadorai, Non-alignment can be best defined as “not entering into military alliances with any country and in particular with any country either of the western or the communist bloc.”
• As per M.S. Rajan, “Specifically and negatively, Non-alignment means the rejection of military or political alliances. Positively it means taking ad-hoc decisions on international problems, as and when they come up according to the merits of each case.”

Origin of NAM

• The rapid decolonization process that followed after the Second World War brought into existence numerous states in Africa, Asia and the Caribbean which were mostly small or middle-sized and were underdeveloped and politically weak.
• They faced twin tasks of nation-building as well as tackling the internal dissenting forces within their societies.
• Alongside they had a Herculean task of coping up with underdevelopment and working towards development.
• It is these nations whose governments came together under the umbrella of the NAM.
• The rationale behind the adoption of the policy of non-alignment by the developing countries reflects numerous objectives, each differing from one state to the other.
• For instance, in the case of India, her foreign policy objectives rested on the pillars of peace, freedom from colonialism, racial equality and non-alignment, which were very much grounded in her experiences of colonial rule and her freedom struggle against British colonialism.
• The Cold War that emerged immediately after the conclusion of the Second World War and the strategies of superpowers to maintain their spheres of influence resulted in the formation of military pacts like the ANZUS (1951), CENTO (1955/1958–1979) and SEATO (1954–1977), to which India’s neighbour Pakistan was being drawn into, prompted India to embark upon the policy of non-alignment.
• Nehru made it clear that India would belong to one camp—the camp of peace, goodwill and cooperation.
• An essential aspect of the policy of non-alignment is, in the words of Nehru, “the enlargement of freedom and replacement of colonization by free and independent countries and a large degree of cooperation among nations”.
• The Arab leaders’ choice of the policy of non-alignment primarily arose from their desire to ward off a conflict in their area between the great powers, or at any rate not to provide them a pretext for intervention.
• The Suez Crisis was an eye-opener and the Arabs realized the possibilities of other infamous self-serving intrusions in their region.
• To this end, they pursued a non-aligned course and also harped on Arab solidarity and enhanced military strength to deter potential aggression from the Zionist incubus in the heart of the Arab world.
• The African states imbibed the spirit of non-alignment in an effort to retain the sovereignty of the newly independent states.
• They further worked towards a common purpose to keep off the foreign powers out of Africa, to solve inter se problems themselves, to aid African National Liberation Movements and to fight against white racism.
• The decision of the African states to join the non-aligned group en bloc can be considered as essentially an anti-imperialist gesture.
• Cuba’s decision to join the non-aligned movement was one of its pragmatic considerations.
• The US military base at Guantanamo was one of the reasons that prompted Cuba to join a movement that was opposed to the foreign military bases.
• Further, being isolated in Latin America in the 1960s, Cuba felt a compelling need to belong somewhere and non-alignment seemed to be a good choice which would presumably secure a political insurance against the erosion of its sovereign independence, which is otherwise impossible to retain through proximity to one or the other of the major powers.
• The term ‘non-alignment’ was first used by Nehru in a speech he delivered in 1954 in Colombo, Sri Lanka.
• In it, Nehru described the five guiding principles for China–India relations.
  • These principles, known as ‘panchsheel’ (five pillars), would later serve as the basis of the NAM.
  • These were: (1) respect for each other’s sovereignty and territorial integrity; (2) non-aggression; (3) non-interference in domestic affairs; (4) equality for all; (5) peaceful co-existence.
• But in its truest sense, the NAM took a proper shape at the Bandung Conference of Afro-Asian countries held in Indonesia in 1955.
• The attending twenty-nine nations declared their wish not to get involved in the Cold War and adopted a Declaration on Promotion of World Peace and Cooperation, which included Nehru’s five principles.
• The Bandung Conference emphasized the need for emancipation of the people from colonial rule and urged the newly independent nation-states to stay away from bloc politics and adhere to the principles of nonalignment.
• This conference had built the base for the movement.
• After Bandung, it took six more years to arrange the first non-aligned summit in Belgrade, the capital city of former Yugoslavia, in 1961.
• Meanwhile, erstwhile Yugoslav President Josip Broz Tito expressed his support to the non-aligned movement and invited the non-aligned countries to organize their first summit in Belgrade.
• Twenty-five countries participated at the Belgrade Summit.
• The basic thrust of this first non-aligned summit was on peace, socio-economic development of the underprivileged countries and disarmament of the world.
• The Belgrade Declaration on Peace evoked global response.

Evolution of NAM

The rise and development of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) has been a key development which has modified the nature and character of diplomacy in many vital ways. It originated as a solution to the Cold War conflict and was designed to serve the interests of the newly independent states and the objective of securing international peace and security.

1. The first stage of the emergence of NAM came with the adoption of non-alignment as a basic foreign policy principle by many states, notably India, Burma, Indonesia, Egypt, Yugoslavia and Ghana.
   a. These countries became the torchbearers of non-alignment. Their prosperous and fruitful adherence to non-alignment, despite stiff opposition from both superpowers and their camp followers, gave an incredible quality to non-alignment.
2. The second stage within the organisation of NAM came once a number of leaders of the non-aligned countries set out to determine and develop contacts and cooperation among the new states.
   a. The lead that India took in holding the Asian Relations Conference in New Delhi and its success, along with the organising of the Bandung Conference (1955), went a long way in preparing the groundwork for the emergence of the Non-Aligned Movement in peacekeeping.
3. The Bandung spirit and the 10 principles adopted by this historic conference provided the much-needed base for NAM. Several countries came forward to understand the justness and soundness of the idea called non-alignment. They adopted it and began taking keen interest in spreading and strengthening it.

Membership of NAM

• The Belgrade Summit clearly outlined the conditions required for a state to be declared a non-aligned state.
• The summit set five conditions, mainly based on panchsheel, for a state to become a member of the non-aligned movement.
  1. A state willing to join the NAM must formulate an independent foreign policy aimed at establishing mutual cooperation among nation-states;
  2. It should support independence and right to self-determination of every nationality;
  3. It should not be a member of any military alliance created out of conflicts of big powers;
  4. If it enters into any bilateral or regional military alliance, such agreement or alliance must not be created out of conflicts of the big powers;
  5. If it allows any foreign military base on its soil, such base must not be created out of the conflicts of big powers.
  6. The underlying implication of all these five principles was that a non-aligned nation shall follow an independent foreign policy, shall support the independence of a nation and shall not enter into bloc politics.
• It needs to be mentioned in this context that nonalignment does not imply neutrality.
• The NAM believes that neutrality is a negative concept and that as a policy it has little meaning.
• Neutrality invokes passivity towards international politics.
• But a non-aligned movement means conscious and willing detachment from any power bloc; and therefore the movement is not at all indifferent to world politics.
• The movement not only allows the nations to have greater manoeuvrability in their foreign policies but also to express opinion on any international issue independently.
• More and more countries joined the NAM to oppose the policy of alignment and bloc politics since the Second World War.
• Since its first summit in Belgrade in 1961, membership of the NAM went on increasing.
• In 2008, NAM had 118 member-states.
• After the United Nations Organization (UNO), it is the largest organization of nation-states in the world, containing 55 per cent of the world population.
• Besides 118 regular members, the NAM offers ‘observer’ status to several countries and organizations within and outside the UN system.It also invites ‘guests’ to its summits.
• Members have the right to leave the organization.
• New members can also join the NAM provided they fulfill the criteria for becoming members.

Characteristics and Aims of NAM

1. Independent foreign policy based on Non-alignment and Peaceful Co-existence of all.
2. Opposition to colonialism and support for liberation movements.
3. Non-membership of any military alliance or bloc.
4. Absence of any bilateral military base on the territory of any state.
5. Absence of any foreign military base on the territory of any state.

• To protect the nascent freedom of newly independent countries of Asia and Africa from colonial domination.
• To eliminate causes leading to war.
• To advocate sovereign equality of all states.
• To build a New International Economic Order (NIEO) based on equity, equality and justice.
• To oppose colonialism, imperialism and racial discrimination.
• To advocate peaceful settlement of international disputes.
• To protect human rights and the environment.
• To oppose the use of force and nuclear weapons.
• To strengthen the United Nations as an organ of world peace.
• To encourage friendly relations among countries.