Non-Aligned Movement
The Non-Aligned Movement or NAM is an international organization of over 100 states which consider themselves not formally aligned with or against any major power bloc.It was formed in 1961 on the initiative of Josip Broz Tito, then president of Yugoslavia, and brought together the states of the world that did not wish to align themselves with either of the Cold War superpowers. Important members included India, Egypt, Brazil and, for a time, China. While the organization was intended to be as close an alliance as NATO or the Warsaw Pact, it never had much cohesion and many of its members were induced to or unable to resist aligning with one or another of the great powers.
The first meeting of the NAM occurred in Belgrade in 1961 and it saw twenty-five members, eleven each from Asia and Africa along with Yugoslavia, Cuba and . The group dedicated inself to opposing colonialism, imperialism, and neo-colonialism.
The next meeting was held in Cairo in 1964. It was attended by forty-six nations with most of the new members being newly independent African states. Much of the meeting was engaged in discussions about the Arab-Israeli conflict and the Indo-Pakistani Wars.
The 1969 meeting in Lusaka was one of the most important with the movement forming a permanent organization to foster economic and political ties. Kenneth Kaunda played a crucial role in these events.
The 1973 meeting in Algiers saw the movement deal with new econmic realties. The Oil Shock had made some of its members vastly richer than the others. The end of the attachment of the U.S. currency to gold, and its subsequent devaluation, also removed one of the groups largest complaints.
See also: G-77
Members
Even though Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia was a founder of NAM, country was suspended in 1992. Since then Yugoslavia has been abolished and replaced with Serbia and Montenegro.