Non-Aligned Movement Summit

At a Glance

• Founded Belgrade Summit, September 1961
• Founders Nehru, Tito, Nasser, Sukarno, Nkrumah
• Members 120
• 19th summit Kampala, January 2024
• Chair Uganda, 2024 to 2027
• Exam link UPSC Prelims, International Relations: Important International Summits, Conferences and Forums

Where Does It Fit?

This is the tenth topic of the macro on important international summits, conferences and forums. NAM is the historical base of India’s foreign policy, and the change from non-alignment to strategic autonomy is a standard question. Previous topic: ASEAN Summit and East Asia Summit. Next topic: Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM).

What Is NAM?

• Origin: the Bandung Conference of 1955 of 29 Asian and African states set principles of peaceful coexistence. The first NAM summit in Belgrade in 1961 brought 25 members.
• Founders: Nehru, Tito, Nasser, Sukarno and Nkrumah. The term non-alignment was used by Nehru in 1954.
• Principles: respect for sovereignty and territorial integrity, non-aggression, non-interference, equality and peaceful coexistence, based on the Panchsheel of 1954, and opposition to colonialism, apartheid and military blocs.
• Structure: no charter or permanent secretariat. A summit of heads of state or government meets every three years, and a rotating chair coordinates. A Coordinating Bureau in New York handles day-to-day issues.
• Membership: 120 members, mostly from Africa, Asia and Latin America, and about 17 observer states.

What Were Recent Summits?

What Else Should You Remember About NAM?

• Founding leaders: each of the five brought a different outlook: Nehru stressed peace and development, Tito was outside the Soviet bloc, Nasser had just nationalised the Suez Canal, Sukarno hosted Bandung, and Nkrumah led Africa’s first independent state in sub-Saharan Africa.
• Decision rule: decisions at summits are taken by consensus, and the final declaration is negotiated by the chair, which makes it hard to take strong positions on contested conflicts.
• Cold War role: it gave newly independent states a voice between the US and Soviet blocs and supported decolonisation.
• Group of 77: a separate bloc of developing countries at the UN, formed in 1964, that works on economic issues.
• New International Economic Order: NAM demanded a new order in the 1970s, including fair terms of trade.
• Bandung and Panchsheel: the 1954 Panchsheel agreement between India and China on Tibet laid out five principles, which were later adopted in Bandung’s Ten Principles.
• Harare and Cartagena: summits in the 1980s and 1990s, such as Harare in 1986 and Cartagena in 1995, took up apartheid and the post-Cold War role of the movement.
• Post-Cold War: the movement lost focus after 1991 but continues on topics like UN reform, development and opposing unilateral sanctions.

How Has India’s Position Evolved?

1. Nehru’s policy: non-alignment meant independence in decisions and not neutrality, and India joined neither bloc. It was a way to protect autonomy.
2. Test in 1971: India signed a Treaty of Peace, Friendship and Cooperation with the Soviet Union, which critics say tilted it, while India says it stayed autonomous.
3. After 1991: with the end of the Cold War, India moved toward engagement with all powers, called multi-alignment or strategic autonomy.
4. Current approach: India keeps NAM links but invests more in groupings like the Quad, BRICS, SCO and G20. It does not use the term non-alignment officially, as covered in Group of 20 (G20) and India’s G20 Presidency.
5. Value today: NAM remains useful to speak for the Global South on UN reform and sanctions, though attendance by Indian leaders has fallen.

As an analytical point, the idea behind non-alignment, independence in foreign policy, remains central to India, even though the movement is less relevant. Multi-alignment is the modern form of that autonomy.

Why Is This Topic Important?

• Facts Founders and year asked
• India Autonomy to multi-alignment
• News Kampala summit

What Came Next?

The next topic covers the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting. Next topic: Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM).

Key People and Terms

• NAM Non-Aligned Movement
• Panchsheel Five principles of peaceful coexistence
• Bandung 1955 Asian-African conference
• Strategic autonomy Independent foreign policy choices
• G77 Developing countries’ bloc at the UN
• Multi-alignment Engagement with many powers

Exam Corner

Mains Angle

Questions ask about the relevance of NAM. These points add depth.

• History Cold War voice
• Shift Multi-alignment
• Today Global South platform