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Topic: Relevance of NAM (non-alignment movement) in the 21st century.
The Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) is a group of states which are not
formally aligned with or against any major power bloc. 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.
All five leaders were prominent advocates of a middle course for states in
the Developing World between the Western and Eastern Blocs during the
Cold War. Because the Non-Aligned Movement was formed as an attempt to
thwart the Cold War, it has struggled to find relevance since the Cold War
ended. Since the end of the Cold War and the formal end of colonialism, the
Non- Aligned Movement has been forced to redefine itself and reinvent its
purpose in the current world system. A major question has been whether
many of its foundational ideologies, principally national independence,
territorial integrity, and the struggle against colonialism and imperialism,
can be applied to contemporary issues.
Even though NAM may not have the political ,economic & military strength
to successfully resist those powerful nations but still it carries enough
pressure to question the legitimacy of many acts of developed world as seen
during Tehran Summit in 2012 where NAAM nations criticized the attempts
of western world to isolate iran & punish it with unilateral sanctions.
Importance For India, The movement has emphasized its principles of
multilateralism, equality, and mutual non-aggression in attempting to
become a stronger voice for the global South, and an instrument that can be
utilized to promote the needs of member nations at the international level
and strengthen their political leverage when negotiating with developed
nations.
NAM is routinely derided by the western media and policy makers as an
irrelevant "relic of the cold war". U.S policy makers have explicitly stated
Topic: Relevance of NAM (non-alignment movement) in the 21st century.
The Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) is a group of states which are not
formally aligned with or against any major power bloc. 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.
All five leaders were prominent advocates of a middle course for states in
the Developing World between the Western and Eastern Blocs during the
Cold War. Because the Non-Aligned Movement was formed as an attempt to
thwart the Cold War, it has struggled to find relevance since the Cold War
ended. Since the end of the Cold War and the formal end of colonialism, the
Non- Aligned Movement has been forced to redefine itself and reinvent its
purpose in the current world system. A major question has been whether
many of its foundational ideologies, principally national independence,
territorial integrity, and the struggle against colonialism and imperialism,
can be applied to contemporary issues.
Even though NAM may not have the political ,economic & military strength
to successfully resist those powerful nations but still it carries enough
pressure to question the legitimacy of many acts of developed world as seen
during Tehran Summit in 2012 where NAAM nations criticized the attempts
of western world to isolate iran & punish it with unilateral sanctions.
Importance For India, The movement has emphasized its principles of
multilateralism, equality, and mutual non-aggression in attempting to
become a stronger voice for the global South, and an instrument that can be
utilized to promote the needs of member nations at the international level
and strengthen their political leverage when negotiating with developed
nations.
NAM is routinely derided by the western media and policy makers as an
irrelevant "relic of the cold war". U.S policy makers have explicitly stated
