BANGLADESH INSTITUTE OF INTERNATIONAL AND STRATEGIC STUDIES

NON-ALIGNED MOVEMENT IN THE 21st CENTURY: TEHRAN SUMMIT AND ITS AFTERMATH

Author: Md. Muhibbur Rahman

DOI Link: https://www.doi.org/BIISSj2012v33n4a3

ABSTRACT

The paper seeks to critically examine post-Cold War relevance of Non-Aligned Movement(NAM),drawing a premise on the significance of Tehran Summit, held during30-31 August2012,in revitalising the Movement in the changing context of 21stcentury.Tehran Summit adjudged the continuing importance of NAM as an alternative platform for international cooperation and reinvigorated a commitment to promote a multi-centric world and to establish just global governance by rebuilding international order. On the other hand, the Summit failed to uphold the collective concerns of the developing countries and was more of a reflection of the political realities of the Middle East, predominantly Iran-West confrontation over Iran’s nuclear programme and Iranian backings for Syrian regime. Dissecting the critical propositions over NAM, the paper finds that future of NAM would be determined by its ability to represent the interests of the third world, taking an independent discourse and playing a more active role in international politics in the coming decades. But the path would be thorny since increasing NAM memberships do not translate into strengthening of NAM’s capability at the same scale due to their lack of strong commitment to the ideology of non-alignment. Besides, there can be manipulation over NAM from within particularly by powerful members. The paper concludes that NAM could explore huge potential by extending its mandate and addressing effectively the contemporary challenges for its member states including civil unrest, human security issues, environmental vulnerabilities, economic underdevelopment, and so on. For NAM to keep its appeal alive, it needs to adjust its agenda with the changing international conditions.