The Non-Aligned Movement has much to discuss in Egypt
Nick Amies
The Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) holds its triennial summit meeting in
Sharm el-Sheikh this week, bringing together leaders from 119 developing
nations for a meeting of one of the world’s largest single political
groups.
The movement, founded during the height of the Soviet-US
confrontation in the mid 1950s, made its name as a counterweight to the
bipolarity of the Cold War, building an alliance not on the pursuit of
enforcing collective measures but on the promotion of shared principles.
“The main purpose was that developing countries in the era of the
Cold War did not want to get involved in the big power struggle between
the Western and Communist blocs,” Hans Koechler, a leading expert on the
NAM at the Vienna-based International Progress Organization, a
non-governmental organization affiliated with the United Nations, told
Deutsche Welle.
“They wanted to follow their own path of development. In fact, the
Movement emphasized the original goals of the United Nations; upholding
national sovereignty, equality among all nations - principles that could
not be realized with the UN organization because the leading five powers
at the UN included the two leading blocs of the Cold War which had
special roles and privileges at the UN,” he said.
The membership criteria for joining the movement these days have
barely changed since those tense and inflammatory days. Applications for
membership in NAM are based on five criteria: an independent,
non-aligned foreign policy; non-membership in multilateral military
alliances; support for national liberation movements; and the absence of
bilateral military agreements or foreign military bases.
Some observers believe that the membership criteria, which have not
changed in the 20 years since the Cold War ended, points to an
organization frozen in time. In a world increasingly unrecognizable from
the one which spawned the movement, questions over NAM’s overall
relevance are therefore regularly aired.
However, Koechler is among those who believe that while NAM was born
out of the principled response to, and indeed rejection of the bipolar,
ideology-based rivalry of the Cold War, it has continued to thrive
despite the end of the Soviet-US military confrontation and could yet
enjoy a resurgent role in the international arena.
Chance for renewed relevancy
Bildunterschrift: NAM - a child of the Cold War - has neither strict
rules nor charter
“The NAM could be highly relevant for one particular reason: during
the Cold War we had essentially two power blocs - a situation which led
to the paralysis of the United Nations because the Security Council
could not take action due to the veto of the United States and the
Soviet Union,” he said.
“Now we have a situation not of bipolarity but unipolarity, with the
US as the one dominant global player, and in this situation smaller and
medium-sized countries, particularly in the developing world, have even
less possibility to take action independently so they should use a
structure such as that of the NAM to coordinate their policies as not to
be so dependent on the dominant global player.”
NAM has more of a moral influence, adds Koechler. “It’s not about
specific measures. It’s about the principles of national sovereignty,
independence, non-interference, peaceful settlements of disputes and
fairness in north-south relations and economic relations between member
states.”
Internal struggles holding back NAM
But at a time when the NAM could cement its position as a support
structure for the developing world, it faces a number of internal
problems and conflicts which are in danger of rendering it impotent.
“I am not that optimistic that the NAM countries can make use of its
structure because many member states are now heavily dependent on the
United States, so they are not really ‘non-aligned’ according to their
own philosophy,” Koechler said. “There are also problems with differing
ideologies and regional conflicts where there is no agreement between
member states, particularly in the Middle East. Then there are issues
with the so-called north-south conflict in the third world where Latin
American countries have major differences with member states in the
northern hemisphere.”
A recent example of the problems NAM faces arose from the recent
missile testing and atomic tests carried out by North Korea, a NAM
member. The Movement failed to reach agreement on the issue and
consequently released no statements, either of support or condemnation,
referring to North Korea’s actions. The UN Security Council and other
international bodies were very concerned about what had happened in
Pyongyang. Yet NAM remained silent.
“There are no strict rules,” said Koechler on whether NAM members had
to defend each other’s actions. “The NAM has no charter. It has no
statute unlike other international organizations. It is an informal
structure of cooperation without any permanent secretariat so there is
no obligation in strictly legal terms to adhere to any policies or
allegiances but only that member states should support each other under
the principles of non-alignment.”
Iran’s chairmanship hints at revived independence
While the North Korea incident appears to have been a missed
opportunity for the NAM to make a collective stand and press its case
for credibility, the Movement has taken the step of announcing that Iran
will take over the chairmanship of NAM when Egypt relinquishes the title
in 2012. It could be that Iran becomes the first nuclear power to chair
the NAM.
“The message here is that NAM is not following the line of political
correctness of the United States and the European Union,” Koechler
concluded. “That is, at least, the symbolic message of anointing Iran as
Egypt’s successor. If the member states had been afraid or would have
adhered to the stances of Washington, London, Berlin and Paris, then
they would have selected a country that is in the good books of the
Europeans and
the West in general. But they didn’t do this. They have a made a
point of showing their independence.”
It could yet be that the Non-Aligned Movement finds its niche as an
alternative voice free from external pressures at a time radically
different from that in which it was created.
- Xinhua News |