Non-Aligned Movement

Also called: NAM · Topic: India's External Relations, 1947-1999: Non-alignment, Wars and Nuclear Policy · NCERT: Class 12, Ch 4 "India's External Relations"

Meaning

The Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) is a group of states that chose not to join either Cold War bloc, the US-led bloc or the Soviet-led bloc. It was founded at the Belgrade summit of 1–6 September 1961 [3], and its roots lay in the Bandung Conference of 1955 [2].

It matters because it let newly free countries like India keep their own freedom of choice in a world split into two camps. For India it was the centre of foreign policy in the Nehru years, and it still shapes India's idea of strategic autonomy today.

Explanation

What non-alignment means

• Non-alignment: a state does not sign up permanently to either military bloc.
• Non-alignment is not neutrality.
• A neutral state stays out of disputes altogether.

• A non-aligned state still takes a stand on each issue on its merits (judging each issue by itself, not by which bloc supports it).

• The goal: keep decisions in the country's own hands, and not let a superpower make them.

How NAM grew: from Afro-Asian unity to Belgrade

• Roots in the freedom struggle:
• India's national movement was part of the worldwide fight against colonialism (one country ruling another and using its land, people and wealth).

• Indian leaders were in touch with nationalists in other colonies well before 1947.

• Asian Relations Conference (New Delhi, March 1947): Nehru hosted it to build Asian unity. Delegations from 28 countries, including Tibet, came [6].

• Bandung Conference (18–24 April 1955):
• It was the first big meeting of newly independent Asian and African states. 29 countries came, with more than half of the world's population [2].
• Its five sponsors were Indonesia, Burma, Ceylon, India and Pakistan [2].
• Its 10 principles drew on the UN Charter and on Nehru's Panchsheel (five rules for peaceful relations between states) [2].
• It condemned "colonialism in all of its manifestations". This was a quiet criticism of the Soviet Union as well as the West [2].

• NAM had its roots here [2].

• New York meeting (October 1960): an NCERT photo shows Nehru, Tito, Nasser, Sukarno and Nkrumah meeting together.

• First NAM Summit, Belgrade (Yugoslavia), 1–6 September 1961 [3]:
• Tito hosted it. It was convened (called together) by Nehru (India), Nasser (Egypt) and Tito (Yugoslavia) [7].
• It denounced colonialism and demanded an end to armed action against dependent peoples (people still under colonial rule) [7].
• It backed Algeria's war of independence from France [7].

Founding members and leaders

• NAM began with 25 members [8]:
• Asia: Afghanistan, Burma, Cambodia, Ceylon, India, Indonesia, Iraq, Lebanon, Nepal, Saudi Arabia, Yemen.
• Africa: Algeria, Congo, Ethiopia, Ghana, Guinea, Mali, Morocco, Somalia, Sudan, Tunisia, United Arab Republic (Egypt and Syria).

• Elsewhere: Cuba, Cyprus, Yugoslavia [8].

• Five founding leaders: Nehru (India), Tito (Yugoslavia), Nasser (United Arab Republic/Egypt), Sukarno (Indonesia) and Nkrumah (Ghana) [8].

• Nehru was a co-founder.

Limits

• Unity did not stop wars in Asia. The 1962 India-China war and the India-Pakistan wars happened anyway.
• India's lean towards the USSR. Critics point to the 1971 Treaty as a move away from strict non-alignment.
• End of the Cold War (1991): with no longer two blocs, people asked whether NAM was still relevant.

In the Constitution and practice

• No article names NAM. But its spirit fits Article 51, a Directive Principle (a guideline the state should follow in making policy, though no court can enforce it). Article 51 asks the state to:
• promote international peace and security;
• keep just and honourable relations between nations;
• respect international law and treaty duties;

• encourage settling international disputes by arbitration (settling a quarrel through a neutral third party).

• Who used it: the Union executive, led by the Prime Minister and the Ministry of External Affairs. Nehru shaped the policy.

• Key instances:
• 1946: India was the first country to raise racial discrimination in South Africa at the UN. This led to UNGA Resolution 44 (I) [4][5].
• 1949: India hosted a conference in New Delhi to back Indonesia's freedom from Dutch rule.
• 1955: India was one of the five sponsors of Bandung [2].
• 1961: Nehru co-convened the Belgrade summit [7].

• 1983: India hosted the 7th NAM Summit in New Delhi, 7–11 March 1983 [3].

• Lasting effect:

• NAM gave a young, poor India a voice far bigger than its military or economic strength.
• Its core idea lives on in strategic autonomy (keeping the freedom to make its own foreign-policy choices).
• It also lives on in multi-alignment (working closely with many powers at once, not with one bloc).

Don't confuse with

• Bandung Conference (1955): it led to NAM [2]. The Belgrade summit (1961) founded NAM. NCERT's own question says Bandung "led to the establishment of NAM".
• Neutrality: a neutral state stays out of disputes. A non-aligned state takes a stand on each issue on its merits, but does not join a military bloc.
• Panchsheel: five principles for peaceful relations between states. It was one source of the 10 Bandung principles [2]. It is not NAM itself.
• Asian Relations Conference (March 1947): an Asia-only meeting in New Delhi with 28 delegations [6], held before independence. NAM was a later Afro-Asian (and wider) grouping.

Prelims Hooks

• First NAM Summit: Belgrade, Yugoslavia, 1–6 September 1961 [3]. Hosted by Tito.
• Conveners vs founders: Belgrade was convened by Nehru, Nasser and Tito [7]. Sukarno and Nkrumah were founding leaders but not conveners [8].
• NAM began with 25 members. The European founder was Yugoslavia; Cuba and Cyprus also joined at the start [8].
• Bandung (18–24 April 1955): 29 countries; five sponsors, including Pakistan [2]. It led to NAM; it did not found it.
• India hosted the 7th NAM Summit: New Delhi, March 1983 [3].
• Trap: the 1961 Belgrade summit backed Algeria's war of independence from France [7].

Mains Points

• Non-alignment as a choice, not a retreat (GS-I/II):
• It let new states keep their freedom of choice in a world split into two blocs.
• Supporters say it kept India's decisions in India's hands and won aid from both blocs.

• Critics call it a lack of principle and point to India's lean to the USSR (1971 Treaty).

• Limits of Afro-Asian unity:

• Bandung's spirit did not prevent the 1962 India-China war or the India-Pakistan wars.

• Shared anti-colonial feeling could not replace hard security planning.

• Relevance after the Cold War:

• After 1991 there were no longer two blocs, so the forum lost much of its weight.
• Its core idea, freedom of choice, lives on in India's "strategic autonomy" and "multi-alignment".

Related concepts

• Asian Relations Conference
• Bandung Conference

Read more

• Afro-Asian unity and the Non-Aligned Movement