The Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) is a forum of 120 countries that are not formally aligned with or against any major power bloc. It was founded with the view to advancing interests of developing countries in the context of Cold War confrontation. After the United Nations, it is the largest grouping of states worldwide.
The movement originated in the aftermath of the Korean War, as an effort by some countries to counterbalance the rapid bi-polarization of the world during the Cold War, whereby two major powers formed blocs and embarked on a policy to pull the rest of the world into their orbits. One of these was the pro-Soviet socialist bloc whose best known alliance was the Warsaw Pact, and the other the pro-American capitalist group of countries, many of which belonged to NATO. In 1961, drawing on the principles agreed at the Bandung Conference of 1955, the Non-Aligned Movement was formally established in Belgrade, Yugoslavia, through an initiative of Yugoslav President Josip Broz Tito, Indian Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser, Ghanaian President Kwame Nkrumah, and Indonesian President Sukarno.
This led to the first Conference of Heads of State or Governments of Non-Aligned Countries. The purpose of the organization was summarized by Fidel Castro in his Havana Declaration of 1979 as to ensure "the national independence, sovereignty, territorial integrity and security of non-aligned countries" in their "struggle against imperialism, colonialism, neo-colonialism, racism, and all forms of foreign aggression, occupation, domination, interference or hegemony as well as against great power and bloc politics."
The countries of the Non-Aligned Movement represent nearly two-thirds of the United Nations' members and contain 55% of the world population. Membership is particularly concentrated in countries considered to be developing countries, although the Non-Aligned Movement also has a number of developed nations.
The Non-Aligned Movement gained the most traction in the 1950s and early 1960s, when the international policy of non-alignment achieved major successes in decolonization, disarmament, opposition to racism and opposition to apartheid in South Africa, and persisted throughout the entire Cold War, despite several conflicts between members, and despite some members developing closer ties with either the Soviet Union, China, or the United States. In the years since the Cold War's end in 1991, the movement has focused on developing multilateral ties and connections as well as unity among the developing nations of the world, especially those in the Global South.
Summits
The conference of Heads of State or Government of the Non-Aligned Countries, often referred to as Non-Aligned Movement Summit is the main meeting within the movement and are held every few years:
| Date | Host country | Host city | Slogan | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | 1–6 September 1961 |  Yugoslavia | Belgrade | |
| 2nd | 5–10 October 1964 |  United Arab Republic | Cairo | |
| 3rd | 8–10 September 1970 |  Zambia | Lusaka | |
| 4th | 5–9 September 1973 |  Algeria | Algiers | |
| 5th | 16–19 August 1976 |  Sri Lanka | Colombo | |
| 6th | 3–9 September 1979 |  Cuba | Havana | |
| 7th | 7–12 March 1983 |  India | New Delhi | |
| 8th | 1–6 September 1986 |  Zimbabwe | Harare | |
| 9th | 4–7 September 1989 | Yugoslavia | Belgrade | |
| 10th | 1–6 September 1992 |  Indonesia | Jakarta | |
| 11th | 18–20 October 1995 |  Colombia | Cartagena | |
| 12th | 2–3 September 1998 |  South Africa | Durban | |
| 13th | 20–25 February 2003 |  Malaysia | Kuala Lumpur | |
| 14th | 15–16 September 2006 | Cuba | Havana | |
| 15th | 11–16 July 2009 |  Egypt | Sharm el-Sheikh | International Solidarity for Peace and Development |
| 16th | 26–31 August 2012 |  Iran | Tehran | Lasting peace through joint global governance |
| 17th | 13–18 September 2016 |  Venezuela | Porlamar | Peace, Sovereignty and Solidarity for Development |
| 18th | 25–26 October 2019[65] |  Azerbaijan | Baku | Upholding the Bandung principles to ensure a concerted and adequate response to the challenges of the contemporary world. |
| 19th | January 2024 |  Uganda | Kampala |
A variety of ministerial meetings are held between the summit meetings. Some are specialists, such as the meeting on "Inter-Faith Dialogue and Co-operation for Peace", held in Manila, the Philippines, 16–18 March 2010. There is a general Conference of Foreign Ministers every three years. The most recent were in Bali, Indonesia, 23–27 May 2011 and Algiers, Algeria, 26–29 May 2014.
The 7th Summit was originally planned for September 1982 in Baghdad, the Iraqi capital, during the Iran-Iraq War. On 21 July of that year, the Islamic Republic of Iran Air Force executed the "Baghdad Operation", an effort to disrupt that proposal by showing Baghdad's airspace was unsafe. Two McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II planes bombarded Al-Dura refinery with Mk82 bombs. One plane returned damaged and the other (along with its pilot) was lost to Iraqi defensive fire. Combined with threats by an Iranian-backed terror group to kill the visiting heads of state, the effort was successful. On 11 August, Iraqi President Saddam Hussein announced that he would support Cuba's suggestion of a summit in New Delhi to be held in 1983. "Iraq will take part in the conference even if held in Tehran... We propose that the seventh conference be held in India."
The Non-Aligned Movement celebrated its 50th anniversary in Belgrade on 5–6 September 2011.
An online summit titled "United Against Covid-19" conducted on 4 May 2020, on the initiative of the chairman of the NAM for the 2019–2022 period, addressed mainly the global struggle to fight the COVID-19 pandemics and supporting NAM to increase its role in dealing with and mitigating the outcomes caused by this disease in NAM, as well as other countries.
The Non-Aligned Movement celebrated its 60th anniversary in Belgrade, on 11–12 October 2021.