An Exit from Contradictions in the Post-Cold War Development of the Non-Aligned Movement

Abstract

: Six decades after the First Conference of Non-Aligned Countries in Belgrade and three decades after the end of the Cold War, we have the opportunity to summarise the development of the Movement in its two basic phases: during the bipolar Cold War confrontation and the turbulent period after the collapse of the Eastern Bloc and the Soviet Union. The very fact that the Non-Aligned Movement managed to survive in two rather contradictory environments – the one for which it was formed and the other which is its formal negation – is impressive enough. Like other multilateral treaties and organisations, the Non-Aligned Movement faces uncertainties and seeks a new identity. The same is now happening with NATO, the European Union (EU), the Council of Europe and the CSCE (OSCE). With the exception of the United Nations, the Non-Aligned Movement is the broadest and most effective international political movement with as many as 120 member states.