NAM at 60 marks an age of Indian alignment

Context: The ideological moorings of India’s non-alignment faded along with Jawaharlal Nehru’s idealism.

About Non-alignment Movement (NAM)

• NAM: Concept of not aligning a country’s policy with others. It is an international organization who do not want to officially align themselves with, or against, any major power bloc (group of countries).
• In line with Gandhi’s vision: Based on non-violent solutions and spirituality, with India having a civilising mission for mankind, accorded well with Nehru’s desire to innovate in world politics and modernity. 
• Nehru’s vision: Nehru saw world problems as interlinked; not a binary of right and wrong, but as a practical person, his instructions to delegates at international meetings were to consider India’s interests first, even before the merits of the case.
• Idealism of Nehru characterised in his foreign policy, to sustain diplomatic flexibility and promote India as economic situation improved sufficiently to be described as ‘emerging’ power. 
• He opposed to the conformity required by both sides in the Cold War. 
• Non-alignment was the least costly policy for promoting India’s diplomatic presence, a sensible approach when India was weak and looked at askance by both blocs, and the best means of securing economic assistance from abroad. 
• India’s role in NAM: India played a lone hand against colonialism and racism until many African states achieved independence after 1960.
• India played a prominent role as facilitator at the 1954 Geneva Peace Conference on Indo-china, whereafter non-alignment appeared to have come of age.

Limitations of NAM

• Varied definitions of NAM, which caused a credibility gap between theory and practice.
• True non-alignment was to be non-aligned towards the non-aligned: Nehru’s misgivings were confirmed when two members, Cyprus and Ethiopia, of conference supported India in Indo-China war. 
• NAM’s members was a plenitude of varying alignments:  Weakness aggravated by not internalising their own precepts of human rights and peaceful settlement of disputes on the grounds of not violating the sacred principle of sovereign domestic jurisdiction. 
• Lack of collective action and collective self-reliance, and non-establishment of an equitable international economic or information order.
• Longevity of organisations: Such institutions had no longer relevance nowadays. 
• Every international organisation has a shelf life, though many survive for years in semi-neglect such as BRICS or similar institutional offspring.

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