NON-ALIGNMENT MOVEMENT (CONTINUED)
NAM’s Role in International Relations
NAM played a limited role in supporting the OPEC price rise, in the formation of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, the formation of the Group of 77 and articulating the New International Economic Order.
NAM has grown in size and can potentially be very influential but it has been unable to fulfill its lofty objectives and thus stands discredited. Most of the member states, which are a part of it, do not use the NAW platform to resolve disputes nor do they contribute much effort to making it more effective.
Yet the need for peaceful coexistence and better North-South relations makes the need for NAM even more urgent with
its visionary blend of idealism and realism.
Criticism of NAM
NAM has failed to help promote peace and many of its members have been involved in bloody internal and external violence (for example the civil war in Cambodia, or the war between Iran and Iraq).
NAM has also been unable to bear on lingering disputes like the ME conflict and the problems in Kashmir causing tensions between Pakistan and India and in the Cyprus which is resulting in tensions between Turkey and Greece.
There is a dichotomy between what NAM leaders preach and practice; often they have adopted stances in the UN at variance with consensus developed in NAM.
NAM and Pakistan
Pakistan could not join NAM due to its membership in CENTO and SEATO. However by the 1970s, Pakistan realized the need for a broader approach to IR than seeking support of the US, so it withdrew from SENTO in 1972.
India opposed Pakistan’s membership in NAM since Pakistan had done the same to India seeking entry into Organization of Islamic Countries (OIC). When CENTO winded up in 1979, Pakistan became a regular member of NAM in the Havana Summit and has been attending all subsequent summits.
Pakistan can play an important role in NAM given that it is the only declared Muslim nuclear state in the world and seeks non-hegemonic but respectful coexistence in the globalizing world.
Cold War in Europe
The October Revolution of 1917 had sowed the seeds of Communism in Europe. The Soviet Union‟s ambitions were checked by the rise of fascism in Italy and Germany.
The Soviets agreed to join France, Britain and the US to check the power of the fascists during WWII. At the end of WWII however, tensions grew between the former Allies over dividing the spoils of war. The Soviets were reluctant to grant Poland independence and did not want to vacate their troops from eastern Germany. Communism spread to Poland and led to East Germany.
The Cold War intensified in the next few years and the Soviets managed to install Communist regimes in Bulgaria, Hungary and in Romania. Thereafter, Albania, Yugoslavia and Czechoslovakia also came under the influence of the Soviets and Finland‟s coalition government was also dominated by the Communists.
Europe was thus divided into two blocks: the Eastern block controlled by the Soviets and the Western block backed by the US. The post-WWII outbreak of conflict in Greece between the government and the
Communist guerillas was a turning point in US foreign policy, when President Truman vowed to check the
Soviet influence and to actively protect its foreign interests abroad.
Truman Doctrine
The Truman Doctrine was meant to fill the vacuum in power politics created by the weakening of Britain so as to prevent the global domination of Communism.
The Truman Doctrine offered direct assistance to Greece and to Turkey to check Communist influence and bypassed even the UN mechanism (a trend which was to reoccur in later years).
Marshal Plan
The Marshal Plan (named after the US Secretary of Defense) was an extension of the Truman Doctrine to protect (western) Europe from economic collapse and communist domination.
Aid under the Marshal Plan was used to reconstruct war ravaged Europe and it became the basis for lending for development to newly independent countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America.
Expansion of the Cold War Arena
Communism also spread to China with the initial backing of Soviets. The disposed Chiang Kai Sek government was exiled to Formosa, which is now Taiwan. The spread of Communism to China also lent support to North Korea, where the US backed the South Koreans. Soviet support to the North Vietnamese led to more serious US engagement in the conflict, due to the fear that Cambodia, Laos, Burma and Thailand could also become Communist. Despite sending up to 600,000 troops to Vietnam by 1965, the North Vietnamese won the battle with support of China and the Soviets.
In the M.E, the US provided active support to the Israelis but the Soviets were not able to influence the ME conflict to its advantage. In Latin America, the Soviet influence in Cuban and Nicaragua made the US very nervous and it supported brutal regimes like that of Pinochet in Chile to prevent its fall to communist influence.
The Congo, Ghana and Gold Coast got military and financial aid from the Soviets, which also led the US to take counter measures in Africa. In South Asia, besides Indian leaning towards the Soviet and the Pakistani inclination towards the US, the invasion of Afghanistan became a major Cold War arena for a proxy war between the Superpowers.
Reconciliation
Even at the height of the Cold War, there were efforts to prevent an outbreak of all out conflict as that could have brought an end to human civilization as a whole. Khrushchev and Eisenhower yet at Camp David and commenced the trend towards disarmament.
A Partial Test Ban Treaty (PTBT) was signed in 1962, a hotline was established between the heads of states in 1963 and the Non Proliferation Treaty (NPT) was signed in 1968.
From 1969 to 1978, a period of détente remained, where both sides accepted the status quo in view of the mutually assured destruction (MAD) capacity of the superpowers and as the realization concerning costs of nuclear arsenals was becoming apparent.
Nixon visited USSR and signed a Limitation on Anti-Ballistic Missile (ABM) Systems and Limitation of Strategic Offensive Arms, indicating adoption of a defensive rather than offensive posture by both superpowers.
Strategic Arms Limitation Talks continued from 1969 to 1979. The US proposed ban on using mobile land sites and the superpowers also reached an agreement on a Seabed Treaty, banning use of sea-beds as nuclear launch sites
End of the Cold War
The process that brought the Cold War to an end began in the second half of the 1980s. It led to the Malta Summit between President Bush and Mikhail Gorbachev in 1989.
The Washington Summit in 1990 between the same leaders resulted in signing of number of nuclear, chemical and conventional arms reduction agreements.
Resurgence of tensions
The invasion of Afghanistan in 1979 fanned the embers of the Cold War again. The USSR‟s interference in Angola was also another irritant and the new US administration was also less tolerant and it wanted to begin building bridges with China, which Soviets were now opposed to, these moves simultaneously ended the period of détente.
Jimmy Carter used the human rights agenda to criticize Soviet backed regimes, the US discovered a Soviet brigade in Cuba and withdrew from SALT II, it boycotted the Olympic games in Moscow in 1980 and imposed a grain embargo on the USSR.
The Soviets in turn banned the LA Olympics in 1984 and shot down a South Korean air liner and by 1983 they pulled out completely from bilateral arms talks with the US after the Cruise and Pershing 2 missiles were found deployed by three west European countries.
The overthrow of the Shah of Iran in 1979 also impelled the US to secure bases in Oman, Kenya and Somalia to obtain a strategic stronghold and protects its interests around the Persian Gulf and the Indian Ocean.
On the other hand, the Soviets, Cubans, Nicaraguans and even the Ethiopians were accused by the US of supplying arms to insurgents El Salvador in Central America.
While the Cold War ended practically with dismantling of the 35 km Berlin Wall in 1989, it wasn‟t until the London Summit a few years later that the Cold War was formally announced to be over London Summit.
The London Summit emphasized the need for the US to reduce the number of nuclear weapons it had deployed in Europe. It obtained a pledge to withdraw the 1470 nuclear tipped artillery shells from West Germany and for the Soviets to withdraw troops from Central and Eastern Europe. It redefined NATO‟s new role from strength seeking alliance to a peace keeping mission.
The World after the Cold War
The balance of power shifted drastically after the Cold War and its effects were felt the world over (Consider the case of Pakistan for e.g. which felt abandoned by the US after the fall of the Soviets).
The collapse of the Soviet Union led to the emergence of new states and the change of governments in several countries (Breakup of Yugoslavia for e.g.). Unresolved conflicts, in Korea, Vietnam and Germany, complicated by the interference of the superpowers came to a quick end.
A new world order emerged at the end of the Cold War, which was influenced by multilateralism and a unilateral superpower. The end of the Cold War called for a new focus in IR which could better analyze and anticipate the realties of a new world order. The end of communism also had economic implications which boosted the legitimacy of the market mechanism.
Communism in practice resulted in dominance of a single political party and centralized decision making. The bureaucracy became the new bourgeoisie under communism in practice.
The Capitalist Ideology
Capitalism is based on the notion of individual liberty and the right to own private property. At the political level, capitalism emphasized the need for democratic government, multiparty politics, independence of the judiciary, and freedom of press. In practice capitalism has caused problems for minorities, growing inequalities and arguments concerning the role of the state in managing the economy.
Relevant Vocabulary
Exiled: expelled, being thrown out of a country
Regime: government
Counter measures: measures taken in reaction to those of the opponent
Fascist: totalitarian, dictatorial (for e.g. Italy and Germany around the WWII period)
Bypass: to sideline or ignore
Reconciliation: removal of differences or tensions between states
Conventional weapons: normal as opposed to nuclear
Accuse: to blame
Bourgeoisie: the rich and powerful elite
