CAN NON-ALIGNED MOVEMENT PLAY A MEANINGFUL ROLE?
COMMENTARY ARCHIVES, 29 Jul 2009
Can non-aligned movement (NAM), as a movement emerged during heydays of the cold war, play a role in a changed post-cold war world? Probably, the 15th summit at the Egyptian Red Sea resort Sharm el Sheikh on 15th and 16th of July 2009 would guide the scholar to seek a plausible answer as to the relevance of the organisation in the 21st century.
The indications are positive as the utterances, except few grumblings such as that by Libyan ruler Muammar Gaddafi, were free from verbose and rhetoric, and marked by practical sense of recognition of the changed world and the needed reorientation in the approaches.
The beginning of non-aligned movement (NAM) can be traced back to the Afro-Asian conference at Bandung in Indonesia in 1955. The prominent leaders- Indian Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, Yugoslavian leader, Josip Broz Tito, and Egyptian leader, Gamal Abdel Nasser, Sukarno of Indonesia and Kwame Nkrumah of Ghana played important role to give the movement an organisational form.
NAM emerged as the voice of the third world countries amidst the tense cold war environment. Further back in 1947, the Asian Relations Conference in New Delhi called for Asian solidarity to fight against the nemesis of colonialism, imperialism and other menaces like racism. These objectives with their moral implications were covered by the NAM agenda, which also emphasised on a de-weaponised, non-hostile, non-polar, and non-discriminatory world.
The third world approach as upheld by the NAM did play a significant role during the cold war. India’s role in Korean crisis, Nehru’s world vision of peaceful world order and multipolar coexistence did promote its objectives. Besides, the organisation’s massive presence in the United Nations enhanced its role. The first summit at Belgrade in 1961, further promoted its agenda of a non-discriminatory world.
Throughout its summit declarations the NAM echoed its voice as a moral harbinger of peace in the tumultuous world in which the horrors of star wars, nuclear weaponisation programmes had struck mankind. Besides its political role, the NAM indeed played an important role in raising the concerns at the economic monopolisation by the developed nations. Through its summit declarations NAM called for south-south cooperation for a new international economic order by forging alliance of the developing nations of the world.
However, the end of the cold war raised questions about the validity of this cold war mechanism, which was even then called ‘immoral’. There are now no blocs, no super power rivalry, no nuclear weaponisation and no colonialism in an apparent sense. Hence, what is its relevance, the antagonists of this organisation continue to ask. Some even predicted the demise of NAM with the end of the cold war. Even during the cold war, the antagonists argue, NAM failed as a conflict resolution mechanism. For instance, they pointed out the Colombo plan mooted by NAM members aftermath of the Chinese invasion of India in 1962 failed to broker peace between India and China.
Similarly, despite its proclaimed non-aligned character the members had their linkages to either ideological bloc. Whatever may be these shortcomings, undoubtedly, it is a matter of common agreement that NAM played a significant role, at least a balancing one among the power blocs with having its moral edge. In a broader sense it gave voice to the voiceless on a broader platform of peace, friendship and non-violence.
There may be the end of the cold war, but the motives behind the cold war have not been died down. As the politics in the nascent Central Eurasia would show the power politics has assumed new dimensions.
Second, though there has been no massive build up of nuclear weapons by the developed countries, there has been illegal arms trade and nuclear weapons build up by irresponsible powers. And these powers have not only acquired nuclear weapons but the unsafe nature of these weapons has given rise to the fears of their falling into to the hands of devious elements.
Third, the menace of terrorism in this post-cold war world with the new sophisticated technology has shown the world that the problems have not died down, rather they have multiplied. Instead of ‘end of history,’ there seems to be new interpretations and new additions to history.
Fourth, as the global financial crisis has shown, what Indian Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh in his speech at Sharm el Sheikh referred, the worst economic crisis ‘in living memory’ further hunts down the global politics and has necessitated a collective, multilateral approach to the tackle the crisis.
Fifth, as the Indian prime minister rightly pointed out in his speech, the developing countries have been hit by the policies of the developed countries such as protectionism. “If the aftermath of the crisis is not carefully managed, and if the abundance of liquidity leads to a revival of speculative activities, we may well see a period of prolonged stagflation,” he cautioned. On the issue of climate change Singh singled out unsustainable lifestyles in the developed world as one the principal threats to the globe due to greenhouse gases.
NAM, a group of 118 nations, representing two-thirds of the UN with more half of world’s population, still bears a resemblance to its old self as its moral standing still appears vivid, but, needless to add, it has to reorient its approaches to suit changing world order. Probably, the 15th summit has made the right utterances in this direction. The outgoing Chairman of the grouping, Cuban President Raul Castro, has rightly called for a new economic order to face the global financial crisis. Castro also called NAM to be more active in the areas of health, human rights and non-proliferation.
The summit in its deliberations also rightly emphasised that the terrorist menace must be tackled, and ‘there should be no safe haven for terrorists in the world.’ The joint declaration issued at the end of the summit on 16 July 2009 incorporated all the above issues. It mentioned about just and comprehensive peace in West Asia. It also talked about expeditious reform of the United Nations Security Council and finalisation of draft on comprehensive convention on terrorism.
Regarding climate change the declaration emphasised on ‘mitigation, adaptation, finance and technology transfer, capacity building’ to tackle the problem according to the principle of differentiated responsibilities.’ In the context of South Asia, the good news is that India and Pakistan inched further to restart bilateral dialogue aftermath of the Mumbai terror attack in November 2008.
NAM has to play a renewed role in a changed global context. It still plays a moral guide. But it has to develop pragmatic approaches to confront reigning problems afflicting the world. It would be irrational as well as unethical to grade NAM as an anti-cold war mechanism as it means much more than that.
The cold war of the past might have died down, but the politics of power and the Hobbesian rules of game still persist in the post-cold war world. The changed world with its old and new set of problems not only justifies NAM and necessitates its existence but also heralds for it the imperative to create a ‘comprehensive, balanced and above all, equitable’ world order.
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