Non-Aligned Movement

Non-Aligned Movement
NAM logo during the 2024-2027 Uganda chairmanship of Non-Aligned Movement
NAM logo during the 2024-2027 Uganda chairmanship
Map of the world indicating members and observers of the Non-Aligned Movement
  Member States
  Observer States
Coordinating BureauUnited Nations Headquarters
New York City, New York[1]
Membership[2]
  • 120 member states
  • 20 observer states
  • 10 international organisations
Leaders
• Principal decision-
making organ
Conference of Heads of State or Government of Non-Aligned Countries[3]
• Chairmanship
Uganda Uganda
• Chair[4]
Yoweri Museveni, President of Uganda
EstablishmentBelgrade, Yugoslavia
1 September 1961; 63 years ago (1961-09-01) as the Conference of Heads of State or Government of Non-Aligned Countries
Website
https://nam.go.ug/

The Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) is a forum of 120 countries that are not formally aligned with or against any major power bloc. It was founded with the view to advancing interests of developing countries in the context of Cold War confrontation.[5] After the United Nations, it is the largest grouping of states worldwide.[2][6]

The movement originated in the aftermath of the Korean War, as an effort by some countries to counterbalance the rapid bi-polarization of the world during the Cold War, whereby two major powers formed blocs and embarked on a policy to pull the rest of the world into their orbits. One of these was the pro-Soviet socialist bloc whose best known alliance was the Warsaw Pact, and the other the pro-American capitalist group of countries, many of which belonged to NATO. In 1961, drawing on the principles agreed at the Bandung Conference of 1955, the Non-Aligned Movement was formally established in Belgrade, Yugoslavia, through an initiative of Yugoslav President Josip Broz Tito, Indian Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser, Ghanaian President Kwame Nkrumah, and Indonesian President Sukarno.[7][8][9]

This led to the first Conference of Heads of State or Governments of Non-Aligned Countries.[10] The purpose of the organization was summarized by Fidel Castro in his Havana Declaration of 1979 as to ensure "the national independence, sovereignty, territorial integrity and security of non-aligned countries" in their "struggle against imperialism, colonialism, neo-colonialism, racism, and all forms of foreign aggression, occupation, domination, interference or hegemony as well as against great power and bloc politics."[11][12]

The countries of the Non-Aligned Movement represent nearly two-thirds of the United Nations' members and contain 55% of the world population. Membership is particularly concentrated in countries considered to be developing countries, although the Non-Aligned Movement also has a number of developed nations.[13]

The Non-Aligned Movement gained the most traction in the 1950s and early 1960s, when the international policy of non-alignment achieved major successes in decolonization, disarmament, opposition to racism and opposition to apartheid in South Africa, and persisted throughout the entire Cold War, despite several conflicts between members, and despite some members developing closer ties with either the Soviet Union, China, or the United States.[13] In the years since the Cold War's end in 1991, the movement has focused on developing multilateral ties and connections as well as unity among the developing nations of the world, especially those in the Global South.[13]

  1. ^ "Coordinating Bureau of the Non-Aligned Countries | UIA Yearbook Profile | Union of International Associations". uia.org. Archived from the original on 18 July 2020. Retrieved 18 July 2020.
  2. ^ a b "NAM Members & Observers". Archived from the original on 27 March 2019. Retrieved 20 March 2019.
  3. ^ Cite error: The named reference organizational was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. ^ "18th Summit of Heads of State and Government of Non-Aligned Movement gets underway in Baku". www.chinadaily.com.cn. Archived from the original on 26 December 2019. Retrieved 26 December 2019.
  5. ^ "Non-Aligned Movement - Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Belarus". mfa.gov.by. Retrieved 24 November 2023.
  6. ^ "About NAM". mnoal.org. Non Aligned Movement. Archived from the original on 23 March 2019. Retrieved 20 March 2019.
  7. ^ Nehru, Jawaharlal (2004). Jawaharlal Nehru.: an autobiography. Penguin Books. ISBN 9780143031048. OCLC 909343858.
  8. ^ "Non-Aligned Movement | Definition, Mission, & Facts". Encyclopedia Britannica. Archived from the original on 27 February 2021. Retrieved 10 July 2020.
  9. ^ Mukherjee, Mithi (2010). "'A World of Illusion': The Legacy of Empire in India's Foreign Relations, 1947-62". The International History Review. 32: 2 (2): 253–271. doi:10.1080/07075332.2010.489753. JSTOR 25703954. S2CID 155062058.
  10. ^ Petranović, Branko; Zečević, Momčilo (1988). "BEOGRADSKA KONFERENCIJA NEANGAŽOVANIH. NESVRSTANOST - Brionska izjava predsednika Tita, Nasera i Premijera Nehrua, jula 1956." (PDF). Jugoslavija 1918–1988: Tematska zbirka dokumenata (in Serbo-Croatian) (2 ed.). Belgrade: Izdavačka radna organizacija "Rad". pp. 1078–1084. ISBN 9788609001086. Archived (PDF) from the original on 26 October 2019. Retrieved 11 April 2018.
  11. ^ "Fidel Castro speech to the UN in his position as chairman of the non-aligned countries movement 12 October 1979". Archived from the original on 11 June 2011.
  12. ^ "Pakistan & Non-Aligned Movement" Archived 2 October 2006 at the Wayback Machine. Board of Investment – Government of Pakistan. 2003.
  13. ^ a b c Menon, Shivshankar (1 July 2022). "A New Cold War May Call for a Return to Nonalignment". Foreign Policy. Washington, D.C.: Graham Holdings Company. ISSN 0015-7228. Archived from the original on 12 August 2022. Retrieved 14 August 2022.