The Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) is an international organization of over 100 states which consider themselves not formally aligned with or against any major power bloc. They represent 55 percent of the planet's people and nearly two thirds of the UN's membership.
It was formed in 1961 on the initiative of Josip Broz Tito, then president of Yugoslavia, and brought together the states of the world that did not wish to align themselves with either of the Cold War superpowers. Important members included India, Egypt, Brazil and, for a time, the People's Republic of China. While the organization was intended to be as close an alliance as NATO or the Warsaw Pact, it never had much cohesion and many of its members were induced to or unable to resist aligning with one or another of the great powers.
The first meeting of the NAM occurred in Belgrade in September of 1961 and it saw twenty-five members, eleven each from Asia and Africa along with Yugoslavia, Cuba and Cyprus. The group dedicated itself to opposing colonialism, imperialism, and neo-colonialism.
The next meeting was held in Cairo in 1964. It was attended by forty-six nations with most of the new members being newly independent African states. Much of the meeting was engaged in discussions about the Arab-Israeli conflict and the Indo-Pakistani Wars.
The 1969 meeting in Lusaka was one of the most important with the movement forming a permanent organization to foster economic and political ties. Kenneth Kaunda played a crucial role in these events.
The 1973 meeting in Algiers saw the movement deal with new economic realities. The 1973 world oil shock had made some of its members vastly richer than the others. The end of the attachment of the U.S. currency to gold, and its subsequent devaluation, also removed one of the groups largest complaints.
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Member countries: Afghanistan | Algeria | Angola | Bahamas | Bahrain | Bangladesh | Barbados | Belarus | Belize | Benin | Bhutan | Bolivia | Botswana | Brunei | Burkina Faso | Burundi | Cambodia | Cameroon | Cape Verde | Central African Republic | Chad | Chile | Colombia | Comoros | Congo | Cote d'Ivoire | Cuba | Cyprus | Democratic People's Republic of Korea | Democratic Republic of Congo | Djibouti | Dominican Republic | Ecuador | Egypt | Equatorial Guinea | Eritrea | Ethiopia | Gabon | Gambia | Ghana | Grenada | Guatemala | Guinea | Guinea-Bissau | Guyana | Honduras | India | Indonesia | Iran | Jamaica | Jordan | Kenya | Kuwait | Laos | Lebanon | Lesotho | Liberia | Libya | Madagascar | Malawi | Malaysia | Maldives | Mali | Mauritania | Mauritius | Mongolia | Morocco | Mozambique | Myanmar | Namibia | Nepal | Nicaragua | Niger | Nigeria | Oman | Pakistan | Palestine | Panama | Papua New Guinea | Peru | Philippines | Qatar | Rwanda | Saint Lucia | Sao Tome and Principe | Saint Vincent and the Grenadines | Saudi Arabia | Senegal | Seychelles | Sierra Leone | Singapore | Somalia | South Africa | Sri Lanka | Sudan | Suriname | Swaziland | Syrian Arab Republic | Thailand | Timor Leste | Togo | Trinidad and Tobago | Tunisia | Turkmenistan | Uganda | United Arab Emirates | Tanzania | Uzbekistan | Vanuatu | Venezuela | Vietnam | Yemen | Zambia | Zimbabwe | |
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NAM observer countries: Antigua and Barbuda | Armenia | Azerbaijan | Brazil | People's Republic of China | Costa Rica | Croatia | Dominica | El Salvador | Kazakhstan | Kyrgyzstan | Mexico | Serbia and Montenegro | Ukraine | Uruguay | |
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NAM observer organizations: African Union | League of Arab States | United Nations | |