Non-Aligned Movement (NAM)

What is NAM?
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. The organization was founded in Belgrade in
1961, and was largely conceived by India's first prime minister, Jawaharlal
Nehru; Indonesia's first president, Sukarno; Egypt's second president,
Gamal Abdel Nasser; Ghana's first president Kwame Nkrumah; and
Yugoslavia's President, Josip Broz Tito.

On what Principles does NAM works?

1. Mutual respect for each other's territorial integrity and sovereignty

2. Mutual non-aggression
3. Mutual non-interference in domestic affairs
4. Equality and mutual benefit
5. Peaceful co-existence

Why was it started?

After the Second World War, the world was divided into two blocs West and
East led by USA and USSR respectively and the cold war between them
was started. There were some countries like India who were newly
independent of colonial rule wanted to be sovereign. These new states,
they felt, should not be sucked into alignments with the West or the East.
They needed to shelter together, to forge an alternative, to fight to build a
peaceful world order where the obligations of the UN Charter could be met.

Factors responsible for the formation of NAM:

1. Cooperation among leaders of these five countries – India, Egypt,

Indonesia, Yugoslavia, Ghana.
 2. Emergence of a bi-polar world and formation of two military blocs
(NATO and Warsaw pact) leading to growing Cold War tensions
3. The dramatic entry of many newly decolonized African countries into
the international arena.

Significance of NAM

• Third Option: NAM offered the newly decolonised countries of Asia,

Africa and Latin America an alternative—not to join either alliance.
• Reducing hostility:The non-aligned countries, including India, played
an active role in mediating between the two rival alliances in the
cause of peace and stability. They worked to prevent war between
others and tried to end wars that had broken out.
• Economic independence:This emergence of NAM as a new economic
pressure group created a new bloc of countries especially through the
creation of a New International Economic Order of LDCs which were
anti-imperialist and anti-colonialism, striving to end socio-economic
disparities between nations of the world.
• Preserved Autonomy:Non-alignment allowed India to take
international decisions and stances that served its interests rather
than the interests of the superpowers and their allies.
• India was often able to balance one superpower against the other. If
India felt ignored or unduly pressurized by one superpower, it could
tilt towards the other. Neither alliance system could take India for
granted or bully it.

Has the Non- Alignment Movement(NAM) lost its relevance in a

multipolar world?

YES-

1. World is witnessing the rise of new world powers like China, India
thus is moving towards multi-lateralism.
 2. Most of the nations today have strong economic and defence ties
with either USA or China
3. Emergence of new regional groupings like G20, BRICS which have
clearly laid down scope and objective of engagement and outcome
overshadow NAM
4. Members of the NAM have different political, social and economic
structure which hinders any cohesive action.
5. The absence of two distinct fighting blocs and emergence of US
hegemony which resulted in a unipolar world are the main factors that
led to NAM losing its significance.

NAM in spite of shortcomings holds the potential to emerge as powerful

voice on the international platform. It has its relevance in today world also.

What is relevance of NAM today?

According to the critics, NAM is no longer relevant because of the changed

international environment, from Bi-polar to uni-polar. But whatever the
world is – bipolar, multi-polar or unipolar, non-alignment as a foreign policy
of the small / weak states will continue to remain valid.

1. NAM has contributed to the ending of bipolar in the world and to the
elimination of the cold war. Membership of the NAM has more than
quadrupled from about 25 states in 1961 to 118 today.
2. There could be no hope of survival in the age of nuclear bombs, if
war happens. Therefore, NAM is then a pioneer nuclear destruction.It
demanded complete elimination of all nuclear weapons. The
movement also stood opposed to the treaties on WMD (Weapon of
Mass Destructions) which were not universal in nature.
3. It looks after the interest of all Third World countries- Pursuit Of
Equality. NAM together with the Group of 77 (G77–largely made up of
NAM members) succeeded to keep Third World issues on the
agenda in most UN forums and agencies due to their numerical
strength.
 4. In the UN General Assembly NAM played a significant role in
transferring the permanent seat in the UNSC previously filled by the
Republic of China (Taiwan) to mainland China. This can also help
India getting a UNSC membership.

Thus, the major thrust of NAM is the creation of a new world based on
rational, democratic, equitable and non-exploitative inter-states
relation. Thus, the NAM continued to be relevance so long as there is
exploitation, war, hunger, poverty and disease on the earth.

How can NAM be strengthened?

1. Its role in the present century would be strengthened by more South-

South cooperation, and defending their interests from fast expanding
economic and technological power of the North.
2. NAM should develop a progressive agenda on the fundamental
values of democracy, human rights and multiculturalism.
3. The WTO rules and procedures have failed to provide adequate
economic gains to the Third World.NAM’s spectrum could be further
enlarged with the increasing concern worldwide over environmental
issues over greenhouse gas emissions, health concerns especially
AIDS, drug trafficking, rising instances of poverty, food crisis and
unemployment mostly within the NAM members and LDC countries,
the rising digital divide between the rich and poor and fight against all
shades of extremism, xenophobia, ethnic nationalism and regional
wars.

NAM in context of India’s New Foreign Policy

One of the arguments being heard is that NAM countries did not come to
India’s help on any of the critical occasions when India needed solidarity,
such as the Chinese aggression in 1962 or the Bangladesh war in 1971.
Even in the latest struggle against terror, NAM has not come to assist India
in any way. Latest NAM summit was not attended by PM Modi.
 1. India, off late has been on a path of selective alignment to suit the
country’s needs for development and security. The latest being the
QUAD with Japan, Australia, USA and India coming together to
contain the ‘dragon’ in the room
2. India has experienced the benefit of NAM at various instances. It was
through NAM that we operated to counter the efforts to expand the
UN Security Council by including just Germany and Japan as
permanent members
3. NAM can act as lobby with so many nations that can support India in
its quest for UNSC’s permanent seat.

NAM Plus

1. Most of the NAM countries are developing or under-developed hence

collaboration to end exploitation, war, hunger, poverty and disease on
the earth can revive and make NAM more relevant.
2. Widen the scope of NAM to include economic cooperation, logistics
cooperation or diplomatic cooperation.Long term objective even being
a collective security pact
3. The world is getting uncertain day by day. Example- The western
power’s unilateral military interventions(Yugoslavia, Afghanistan, Iraq,
Libya and Syria), Russia capturing Crimea, China dismissing any
international rule.
4. PM Indira Gandhi’s words at the Seventh NAM Summit held in Delhi in
1983. Mrs Gandhi emphatically said: “Non-alignment is not negative,
not neutral; and we cannot risk any shadow on our freedom of
judgement and action. We have no quarrel with any group of nations,
But we speak out against injustice.”
5. India should strive to achieve NAM plus, maintain its good relation with
all the countries while maintaining its “Strategic Autonomy” and give
the message of peace to the world.