What happened
The Non-Aligned Movement was founded as a forum for countries refusing alignment with Cold War power blocs. It originated after the Korean War, coalesced around Bandung principles, and was formally established in 1961 in Belgrade. Its method was collective non-alignment, operationalised through summits and working groups.
How we know it
The founding date, location, and leadership are confirmed by the document’s explicit statements about the 1961 Belgrade summit and the 1956 Declaration of Brijuni. The term ‘non-alignment’ is attested in UN records from 1950 and 1953, and Nehru’s 1954 Colombo speech is cited directly. All five leaders—Tito, Nasser, Nehru, Nkrumah, Sukarno—are named together as initiators of the 1961 formalisation.
Why it went that way
It emerged because post-colonial states faced coercive alignment demands after the Korean War intensified bipolarisation. Leaders like Nehru and Tito saw non-alignment not as neutrality but as strategic autonomy—leveraging their moral authority from anti-colonial struggle to build collective leverage.
What is still contested
The document does not state whether the 1956 Brijuni meeting constituted full institutional founding or only a preparatory step; it calls the 1961 Belgrade summit the point of ‘formal establishment’ while describing Brijuni as where the movement ‘was founded’. It gives no source for this ambiguity, nor indicates disagreement among historians.
What it changed
It gave developing countries a coordinated platform to assert sovereignty and advance shared interests amid Cold War pressure. It did not dissolve bloc politics—but created a third channel for diplomacy, aid negotiation, and UN voting blocs.
Is it worth your time
Yes. It redefined sovereignty as a collective diplomatic posture—not just abstention, but active agenda-setting by the Global South during the Cold War’s most volatile decade.
