Origins and the Cold War in blue and the
Warsaw Pact in red. ,
Jawaharlal Nehru, and
Gamal Abdel Nasser, pioneers of the Non-Aligned Movement during the
Brioni Meeting The term 'Non-Alignment' was used for the first time in 1950 at the
United Nations by
India and
Yugoslavia, both of which refused to align themselves with any side in the multi-alliances involving
Korean War. Drawing on the principles agreed at the
Bandung Conference in 1955, the Non-Aligned Movement as an organization was founded on the
Brijuni islands in Yugoslavia in 1956 and was formalized by signing the Declaration of Brijuni on 19 July 1956. The Declaration was signed by Yugoslavia's president, Josip Broz Tito, India's prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru and Egypt's president, Gamal Abdel Nasser. One of the quotations within the Declaration is "Peace can not be achieved with separation, but with the aspiration towards collective security in global terms and expansion of freedom, as well as terminating the domination of one country over another". According to
Rejaul Karim Laskar, an ideologue of the
Congress party which ruled India for most part of the
Cold War years, the Non-Aligned Movement arose from the desire of Jawaharlal Nehru and other leaders of the newly independent countries of the third world to guard their independence and sovereignty "in face of complex international situation demanding allegiance to either two warring superpowers". The movement advocates a middle course for states in the
developing world between the
Western and
Eastern Blocs during the
Cold War. The phrase itself was first used to represent the doctrine by Indian diplomat
V. K. Krishna Menon in 1953, at the United Nations. But it soon after became the name to refer to the participants of the
Conference of Heads of State or Government of Non-Aligned Countries first held in 1961. The term "non-alignment" was established in 1953 at the United Nations. Nehru used the phrase in a 1954 speech in Colombo, Sri Lanka. In this speech, Zhou Enlai and Nehru described the
Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence to be used as a guide for
Sino-Indian relations called
Panchsheel (five restraints); these principles would later serve as the basis of the Non-Aligned Movement. The five principles were: • Mutual respect for each other's
territorial integrity and
sovereignty. • Mutual non-aggression. • Mutual non-interference in domestic affairs. • Equality and mutual benefit. • Peaceful co-existence. A significant milestone in the development of the Non-Aligned Movement was the 1955
Bandung Conference, a conference of Asian and African states hosted by Indonesian president
Sukarno, who gave a significant boost to promote this movement. Bringing together Sukarno,
U Nu, Nasser, Nehru, Tito, Nkrumah and Menon with the likes of
Ho Chi Minh,
Zhou Enlai, and
Norodom Sihanouk, as well as
U Thant and a young
Indira Gandhi, the conference adopted a "declaration on promotion of world peace and cooperation", which included Zhou Enlai and Nehru's five principles, and a collective pledge to remain neutral in the
Cold War. Six years after Bandung, an initiative of Yugoslav president
Josip Broz Tito led to the first
Conference of Heads of State or Government of Non-Aligned Countries, which was held in September 1961 in Belgrade. The term
non-aligned movement appears first in the fifth conference in 1976, where participating countries are denoted as
members of the movement. At the
Lusaka Conference in September 1970, the member nations added as aims of the movement the peaceful resolution of disputes and the abstention from the big power military alliances and pacts. Another added aim was opposition to stationing of
military bases in foreign countries. In 1975, the member nations which also were part of the
United Nations General Assembly pushed for the
Resolution 3379 along with
Arab countries and the support of the
Soviet bloc. It was a declarative non-binding measure that equated
Zionism with South Africa's
Apartheid and as a form of racial discrimination. The bloc voting produced a majority in the
United Nations that systematically condemned Israel in the following resolutions: 3089, 3210, 3236, 32/40, etc. Some Non-Aligned member nations were involved in serious conflicts with other members, notably
India and Pakistan as well as
Iran and Iraq.
Cuba's role In the 1970s, Cuba made a major effort to assume a leadership role in the world's non-alignment movement. The country established military advisory missions and economic and social reform programs. The
1976 world conference of the Non-Aligned Movement applauded Cuban internationalism, "which assisted the people of Angola in frustrating the expansionist and colonialist strategy of South Africa's racist regime and its allies." The
next Non-Aligned conference was scheduled for Havana in 1979, to be chaired by
Fidel Castro, with his becoming the de facto spokesman for the movement. The conference in September 1979 marked the zenith of Cuban prestige. Most, but not all, attendees believed that Cuba was not aligned with the Soviet camp in the Cold War. However, in December 1979, the Soviet Union
intervened in Afghanistan's civil war. Up until that time, Afghanistan was also an active member of the Non-Aligned Movement. At the United Nations, nonaligned members voted 56 to 9, with 26 abstaining, to condemn the Soviet Union. Cuba voted against the resolution, in support of the USSR. It lost its nonaligned leadership and reputation after Castro, instead of becoming a high-profile spokesman for the movement, remained quiet and inactive. More broadly the movement was deeply split over the Soviet–Afghan War in 1979, as many members of the Non-Aligned Movement, particularly the
predominantly Muslim states, condemned it.
Post-Cold War and Venezuela's President
Nicolas Maduro at the
18th Summit of the Non-Aligned Movement in Baku on 25 October 2019 With the end of the Cold War, the Non-Aligned Movement transformed. The
breakup of Yugoslavia (a prominent founding member) in 1991–1992 also affected the movement; the regular Ministerial Meeting of the movement, held in
New York during the regular yearly session of the
General Assembly of the United Nations in 1992 suspended Yugoslavia's membership. Membership applications from
Bosnia and Herzegovina and from
Costa Rica were rejected in 1995 and 1998 respectively. In 2004
Malta and
Cyprus ceased to be members when they joined the
European Union, as required.
Azerbaijan and
Fiji are the most recent entrants, both having joined the movement in 2011. Azerbaijan and
Belarus, which joined in 1998, remain the only members on the continent of Europe. Since the end of the
Cold War, the Non-Aligned Movement has felt forced to redefine itself and to reinvent its purpose in the new
world-system. A major question has been whether any of its foundational ideologies, principally national independence, territorial integrity, and the struggle against colonialism and imperialism, apply to contemporary issues. 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 promote the needs of member-nations at the international level and strengthen their political leverage when negotiating with developed nations. In its efforts to advance Southern interests, the movement has stressed the importance of cooperation and unity amongst member states. However, as in the past, cohesion remains a problem, since the size of the organization and the divergence of agendas and allegiances present the ongoing potential for fragmentation. While agreement on basic principles has been smooth, taking definitive action
vis-à-vis particular international issues has been rare, with the movement preferring to assert its criticism or support rather than to pass hard-line resolutions. The movement continues to see a role for itself: in its view, the world's poorest nations remain exploited and marginalized, no longer by opposing superpowers, but rather in a uni-polar world, and it is Western hegemony and neo-colonialism that the movement has really re-aligned itself against. It opposes foreign occupation, interference in internal affairs and aggressive unilateral measures, but it has also shifted to focus on the socio-economic challenges facing member states, especially the inequalities manifested by
globalization and the implications of
neo-liberal policies. The Non-Aligned Movement has identified economic
underdevelopment,
poverty, and social injustices as growing threats to peace and security. Attendance at the highest level included 27 presidents, two kings and emirs, seven prime ministers, nine vice-presidents, two parliamentary spokesmen and five special envoys. At the summit, Iran took over from Egypt as Chair of the Non-Aligned Movement for the period 2012 to 2015. In 2016 Venezuela hosted the 17th NAM Summit. Azerbaijan, host of the
18th NAM summit in 2019, holds the Non-Aligned Movement presidency pending the
19th NAM summit, which took place in Kampala, Uganda in January 2024. The
20th NAM summit is expected to be hosted by
Uzbekistan. == Organizational structure and membership ==