The horror of two World Wars led to the formation of the United Nations Organisation, while the formation of the Non-Aligned Movement followed later. In this context, answer the following:
Explain any four factors that led to the formation of the Non-Aligned Movement.
Topic: Formation of the Non-Aligned Movement
Answer
(1) THE COLD WAR AND THE TWO BLOCS — after 1945 the world divided between the American and the Soviet camps. The newly independent nations refused to be drawn into a quarrel that was not theirs, and wanted freedom to judge each issue on its merits. (2) THE END OF COLONIALISM — many Asian and African countries had just won their freedom after long struggles. Having thrown off foreign domination, they were unwilling to accept a new dependence on either superpower, and they wished to oppose colonialism, imperialism and racialism wherever these survived. (3) THE ARMS RACE AND THE FEAR OF NUCLEAR WAR — the atom bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki and the arms race that followed convinced these nations that another world war would destroy mankind, and that peace and disarmament required an independent voice outside the blocs. (4) THE NEED FOR ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT — poor and newly free countries needed to spend on food, education and industry rather than on arms, and to secure a fairer international economic order. The Bandung Conference of 1955 and the leadership of Nehru, Tito, Nasser, Sukarno and Nkrumah gave the movement its shape, and the first summit was held at Belgrade in 1961.
Four marks, four factors, one mark each. The four form a coherent picture — political (the blocs), historical (decolonisation), military (the nuclear threat) and economic (development) — so presenting them in that order shows the movement answered a real set of needs. The Cold War is the essential first point, since NAM exists only in relation to it. Close with the founding facts: Bandung 1955, Belgrade 1961, and the five architects with their countries.