Non-Aligned Movement

The Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) was a grouping of states that did not want to formally join either the US-led or the Soviet-led bloc during the Cold War. It emerged as a collective platform mainly of newly independent Asian, African and later other developing countries to preserve foreign-policy autonomy, oppose colonial domination, and promote peace and development. Non-alignment did not mean isolationism or permanent neutrality; it meant taking independent positions on international issues rather than following a bloc discipline.

Key points

• NAM’s origins lay in the bipolar Cold War order after the Second World War and in the decolonisation of Asia and Africa, where many newly independent states sought to avoid dependence on either superpower bloc.
• The 1955 Bandung Conference of Asian and African countries was an important precursor, and the first NAM Summit was held at Belgrade in 1961.
• The commonly associated founding leaders were Jawaharlal Nehru of India, Gamal Abdel Nasser of Egypt, Josip Broz Tito of Yugoslavia, Sukarno of Indonesia and Kwame Nkrumah of Ghana.
• A core principle of NAM was independence in foreign policy, including refusal to join military alliances or power blocs dominated by the Cold War superpowers.
• NAM opposed colonialism, imperialism, racial discrimination and apartheid, making self-determination and sovereign equality central to its political agenda.
• NAM supported peaceful coexistence, non-interference in internal affairs, disarmament and reduction of Cold War tensions through dialogue.
• NAM also sought a fairer international economic order so that developing countries could pursue independent economic development and have a stronger voice in global institutions.

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