Non-Aligned Movement

Criteria

At the Cairo preparatory meeting the participants discussed in detail the principal aims and objectives of a policy of non-alignment. The criteria are the following:

Successes

1. The country should have adopted an independent policy based on the coexistence of States with different political and social systems and on non-alignment or should be showing a trend in favour of such a policy.

2. The country concerned should be consistently supporting the Movements for National Independence.

The country should not be a member of a multilateral military alliance concluded in the context of Great Power conflicts.

3. If a country has a bilateral military agreement with a Great Power, or is a member of a regional defence pact, the agreement or pact should not be one deliberately concluded in the context of Great Power conflicts.

4. If it has conceded military bases to a Foreign Power the concession should not have been made in the context of Great Power conflicts.

• The movement claims it:
• helped end apartheid in South Africa
• was successful in putting pressure on nuclear powers in the whole debate on nuclear disarmament

• In 1997, Palestinian Khalid al-Sheik paid tribute to the movement for its work on the behalf of his people.

• some of the countries represented in the non-aligned, particularly some like Colombia and Indonesia, will say it has "been the most wonderful forum and we haven't had Washington and Moscow staring over our shoulder and breathing down our necks."

General Information

Failures

• The Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) is a group of states which are not formally aligned with or against any major power bloc
• As of 2012, the movement has 120 members
• founded in Belgrade in 1961
• largely conceived by leaders at that time of India, Indonesia, Egypt, Ghana and Yugoslavia
• The countries represent nearly two-thirds of the United Nations's members and contain 55% of the world population
• The 17th Summit of the Non Aligned Movement is to be held in Venezuela in 2016

• "While the monopoly of power, or is it historical privilege, of the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council should be abolished through a democratisation process."

very little power in the UN

• many economic projects were set up in developing countries but suffered as a result of the quest for influence

focus of Non-Aligned Summits therefore shifted away from essentially politically issues

• Western "propaganda" is considered very influential of the countries attending

threatens the non-alignment state

• generally very little attention contributed to the movement or

even thought of as unneccessary

"In fact, most of the countries attending the summit in Tehran were there simply because it was the Non-Alignment Movement summit, a good soapbox to grandstand, to show to their publics back home that they are "major players" in international affairs, and maybe to throw around their sometimes bizarre ideas to countries that might listen out of politeness, without fear of condemnation."

Source

Monday, 27 December, 1999

Charu Shanane, BBC

Controversy

• still high importance of the Western powers in the movement and even strong relations (Saudi Arabia & US)
• countries like Cuba and Vietnam joined it, which were clearly aligned to the Soviet Union and countries like Singapore would plead the Western cause

The beginning of NAM

principles that were once very important are not very significant in the non-aligned movement anymore

• origin in the Asia-Africa Conference held in Bandung, Indonesia in 1955
• brought together leaders of 29 states, mostly former colonies, from the two continents of Africa and Asia
• At the meeting Third World leaders shared their similar problems of resisting the pressures of the major powers, maintaining their independence and opposing colonialism and specially western domination

"It started off in 1961 with 25 founding members. Now it has 113.

Despite its numerical strength, the Non-Aligned Movement, NAM, bringing together countries which were neither allied to the Soviet Union nor the United States, has been struggling in recent years to find a role for itself. And many members were never really non-aligned anyway."

"However the trouble was that pretty soon, the leaders of the non-aligned were themselves showing a good deal of artistry in manipulating power politics. India at war with Pakistan and China, Indonesia's confrontation with Malaysia, Ghana interfering in Togo, Egypt interfering in the Yemen and Yugoslavia with internal conflicts which are still being played out to this day. So they were hardly models of the end of power politics."

originated due to the alliances of the Cold War

Conclusion

• small successes are evident, yet the goals NAM sets for itself are too ambitious concerning their international importance

• Dr Geoffrey Stern of the London School of Economics argues the Non-Aligned Movement has been relatively unsuccessful in influencing the world's most powerful and rich countries right throughout its history

• in the future, the movement might be successful considering their work against world poverty and for Human Rights

Non-Aligned Movement