The Non Aligned Movement and Reform Tendencies in the United Nations

Dimitrijević, Duško (2021) The Non Aligned Movement and Reform Tendencies in the United Nations. In: The 60th Anniversary of the Non-Aligned Movement. Institute of International Politics and Economics, Belgrade, pp. 429-462. ISBN 978-86-7067-283-3

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Abstract

From the historical experience so far, it can be seen that the United Nations has stimulated the emergence and development of the Non- Aligned Movement. The United Nations was a universal political forum in which non-aligned states could develop their activities and pursue their interests together with the interests of the international community as a whole. The world organisation provided opportunities in which the policy of non-alignment could be affirmed and in which the bloc pressures of the East and the West could be resisted. Expressing solidarity with the interests of Third World countries that had similar historical experiences with colonialism and economic and social backwardness, led to the merging of political identities into the identities of non-aligned countries. In that sense, the United Nations played a decisive role because it enabled the rapprochement of states that gained independence and freedom from the yoke of former colonial powers in the process of decolonisation. Acting under the auspices of the United Nations, the non-aligned countries have been actively involved in solving key political, economic and social problems in the world. In this way, the United Nations became their significant stronghold, an irreplaceable system for achieving their goals and principles, and an important instrument for justifying their real strength in international relations. This should come as no surprise, as the basic aims and principles of non-alignment were in line with the aims and principles contained in the United Nations Charter. As a fundamental legal basis for international relations from the end of the Second World War until today, the Charter has enabled the gradual implementation of the specific goals and principles of the Non-Aligned Movement. The ability of the non- aligned countries to acquaint the world with their specific goals and principles through the United Nations system indicated the democratic basis of the world organisation, which in many segments was more receptive to non-aligned and underdeveloped countries than to those “aligned” or developed. Membership in the United Nations has therefore had a positive effect on the cohesion of the non-aligned countries, by developing awareness of the possibilities of a unified solution to common problems and open international issues. The active participation of the Non- Aligned Movement in the activities of the United Nations and its agencies has grown over time with the increasing number of the non-aligned countries in the membership of the world organisation. With an impressive and numerically superior voting power, the Non-Aligned Movement has practically influenced the course of international relations inside and outside the United Nations system. Its significant contribution to the reform processes of the world organisation has to some extent influenced the reshaping and strengthening of the role of the United Nations in contemporary international relations.

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