Non Alignment Perspectives And Prospects

Contributed articles.

Using newly declassified documents from Serbian, British, Indian, Chinese, Myanmar, U.S., and Soviet archives, Non-Aligned Movement Summits shows how the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) gradually evolved into the third force of Cold War politics, enveloping most of the post-colonial and non-bloc world. Jovan Cavoški follows the evolution of the NAM through its summits and other gatherings, during which major political decisions pertaining to the destiny of the Third World were made. These events were scrutinized by all major powers and had a corresponding effect on their policies. From the Belgrade Conference in 1961 until 1989, all major Third World and non-bloc nations met to demonstrate to the Eastern and Western Blocs that they were independent, active and respected participants in world affairs. Cavoški shows how these summits were also closely related to events occurring in the relationship between the two blocs, providing opportunities for non-bloc actors to influence the global balance of power. By moving the focus of 20th-century international history away from the bloc nations, and instead giving developing nations in Africa and Asia due attention, this book provides a fresh perspective on Cold War history and fills a significant gap in the literature. It is an important study for all students and scholars of the Cold War and international history.

This book compares and contrasts the foreign relations strategies of China, Cuba, and Iran in the first decade of their post-revolutionary periods. Among a variety of explanatory variables, leadership, particularly the type of revolutionary leaders, played a significant role in explaining the outcome of the policymaking process in each case. Three distinct patterns of foreign relations strategies are evident among all three revolutionary regimes in the ten-year period: Two-Track, Conflictual, and Conciliatory. This book is a valuable source for both experts and non-experts alike in providing insight into the foreign relations of revolutionary regimes in developing countries and in helping U.S. policymakers anticipate behaviors of future revolutionary leaders. A focal point of this book is the examination of the nonalignment strategies of these prominent developing countries during the infancy of their regimes. Each state's particular strategy is described and explained in detail and then contrasted and compared. Although there are differences among their foreign policies, considering their geographic locations, size, wealth, military capabilities, leadership characteristics, and political institutions, there are significant similarities regarding their foreign policy goals and trends in their foreign relations with the Great Powers. Among explanatory factors, leadership played a significant role in the policy making process, although the foreign relations strategies of these revolutionary regimes were fed by a combination of national and international variables. In all three states, the tone of foreign policy was set by revolutionary leaders who were either idealists or realists. Idealists tended to take a more active and conflictual approach toward one or both of the superpowers, while Realists were more cautious and less willing to resort to a conflictual posture. This book also investigates the gap between the theoretical and practical nonalignment stance of each state. This cross-regional study provides policy analysts with clues about the foreign policies of other revolutionary developing countries in similar situations. Finally, it makes suggestions about how a Great Power may relate to a developing country during its first post-revolution decade.

How subtler forms of balance-of-power politics can help states achieve their goals against aggressive powers without wars or arms races At the end of the Cold War, the United States emerged as the world’s most powerful state, and then used that power to initiate wars against smaller countries in the Middle East and South Asia. According to balance†‘of†‘power theory—the bedrock of realism in international relations—other states should have joined together militarily to counterbalance the U.S.’s rising power. Yet they did not. Nor have they united to oppose Chinese aggression in the South China Sea or Russian offensives along its Western border. This does not mean balance†‘of†‘power politics is dead, argues renowned international relations scholar T.V. Paul, but that it has taken a different form. Rather than employ familiar strategies such as active military alliances and arms buildups, leading powers have engaged in “soft balancing,” which seeks to restrain threatening powers through the use of international institutions, informal alignments, and economic sanctions. Paul places the evolution of balancing behavior in historical perspective from the post-Napoleonic era to today’s globalized world.

This book sheds new light on the foreign policies, roles, and positions of neutral states and the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) in the global Cold War. The volume places the neutral states and the NAM in the context of the Cold War and demonstrates the links between the East, the West, and the so-called Third World. In doing so, this collection provides readers an alternative way of exploring the evolution and impact of the Cold War on North-South connections that challenges traditional notions of the post-1945 history of international relations. The various contributions are framed against the backdrop of the evolution of the Cold War international system and the decolonization process in the Southern hemisphere. By juxtaposing the policies of European neutrals and countries of the NAM, this book offers new perspectives on the evolution of the Cold War. With the links between these two groups of countries receiving very little attention in Cold War scholarship, the volume thus offers a window into a hitherto neglected perspective on the Cold War. Via a series of case studies, the chapters here present new viewpoints on the evolution of the global Cold War through the exploration of the ensuing internal and (mainly) external policy choices of these nations. This book will be of much interest to students of Cold War Studies, international history, foreign policy, security studies and IR in general.

This is a book of essays in honour of J.D.B.Miller and looks at the relationship between the West and the Third World. It looks especially at the liberal/democratic West in opposition to the communist East and that version of modernity which is represented by the developed capitalist world.