Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) – Is it still significant?

Origin of NAM

The core idea of the non-alignment originated in the Asia-Africa Bandung conference held in Indonesia in 1955.

• The first conference of Non-aligned movement held in 1961 in Belgrade, known as the Belgrade conference.
• It was founded under the leadership of by Josip Broz Tito of Yugoslavia, Gamal Abdel Nasser of Egypt, Jawaharlal Nehru of India, Kwame Nkrumah of Ghana, and Sukarno of Indonesia.
• All five leaders believed that developing countries should not help or align with either the Western or Eastern blocs in the Cold War but instead remain non-aligned.
• The major goal of the formation of non-Alignment movement was to end colonialism and all kinds of imperialism.

Members of NAM

• The Movement recognizes three categories for participation: Full Member, Observer and Guest.
• Today, NAM comprises of 120 member states with 17 states and 10 international organisations as its observers.
• It is the second largest grouping of states worldwide, after the United Nations.

Membership Criteria

• The Country should have adopted an independent policy based on the coexistence of States with different political and social systems and on nonalignment, or it should have shown a tendency to favor such a policy.
• The Country in question should support national independence movements in a consistent manner.
• The Country should not be a member of a multilateral military alliance concluded in the context of great power conflicts.
• If the Country has a bilateral military agreement with a great power or it is a member of a regional defense pact, the agreement or pact should have not been concluded deliberately in the context of great power conflicts.
• If the Country has granted military bases to a foreign power, the concession should have not been made in the context of great power conflicts.

NAM in Today’s World

Over the years the focus of NAM shifted from colonialism and imperialism to globalization and development in its member countries especially in the Global South.

• Many argue that the disintegration of Yugoslavia, one of its founding members, was a major blow to the NAM and it lost its relevance with the end of the Cold War. However, some argue that NAM has accomplished its charted goals and it still has relevance in this increasingly complex and globalized world.

The role and Importance of NAM in the post-covid world

The whole purpose of creation of NAM was to stand together against imperialism, colonialism, neo-colonialism, racism, and all forms of foreign subjugation.

• In this current scenario, the COVID-19 crisis presents an excellent opportunity for the NAM to reorganise and develop new goals and objectives in line with the needs of its member states who are struggling in this long tough battle with the virus.
• One of the recent summits of NAM which held on May, 2020 Under the theme of “United Against COVID-19”, led by Azerbaijan focused on the need for global solidarity to fight the novel coronavirus.
• The virtual meeting also initiated a task force to manage a database of member states regarding the impact of the health crisis. This was one of the earliest responses of the Non-Aligned Movement to the pandemic.
• At its, 60th anniversary meeting of the movement, the member states hit out against the rich powerful nations for hoarding supplies and sharing vaccines equitably.
• This can be seen as a good sign of re-emergence of the NAM. However, merely a few statements or the formation of a task force should not be the end goal of NAM.
• The forum needs to go further by strengthening the movement and its multilateral ties with other partner organizations and powerful countries amid the “new type of Cold War” which has progressed to another level.
• In this highly globalized world with increasing economic interdependence, the economic rivalry between major powers has severe impact on developing countries which were already been devastated by the pandemic.
• This presents NAM an opportunity to regain its momentum and chart out a recovery plan for the post-pandemic world to its 120 member states, mostly comprises of developing countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America.
• NAM should also take initiatives to bridge the large gap in the division of resources, with priority focus and action on the vaccine divide, and should raise voice against unfair Intellectual Property Rights, trade protectionism, global warming etc. among other important issues.