N.A.M. become an economic pressure group.

By the late 1980s, however, the N.I.E.O. initiative had faded, mainly because of the stiff opposition from the developed countries who acted as a united group while the N.A.M. countries struggled to maintain theirs in the face of their opposition.

India and the Cold War

As a leader of N.A.M., India’s response to the ongoing cold war was twofold. It took an individual core to avoid the two alliances. It raised its voice against the newly decolonized countries become part of these alliances. India’s policy was neither hostile nor passive.

India was in favor of actively intervening in world affairs to soften cold war evaluates. India mediated during the Korean War crisis. India chose to involve another member of the non-aligned group in its mission.

India tried to activate that regional and international org., which were not part of the alliances led by the U.S. and U.S.S.R. Nehru reposed great faith in a “genuine commonwealth of Free and cooperating nations” that would play a positive role in softening if not ending the cold war.

Non-Aligned posture served India’s interest in following ways:

• Autonomy allowed India to take international decisions and stances that serve its interests rather than the interest of the superpower and their alive.
• India was often able to balance one superpower against the other. If India felt ignored or unduly pressurized by one superpower. It could tilt towards the other. Neither alliance system could take India for granted or bully it.

However, India’s policy of non-alignment was criticized on many counts. India’s non-alignment was said to be “unprincipled.” In the name of pursuing its national interest, it was said that India often refused to take a firm stand on crucial international issues.

It was suggested that India was inconsistent and took contradictory postures. India was criticized for signing the treaty of friendship in August 1971 with the U.S.S.R. for 20 years. Where, as it criticized others for joining alliances.

Following the end of the cold war, non-alignment lost some of its earlier relevance and effectiveness. However, N.A.M. contained some core values and enduring ideas.

It meant that the poor and often tiny countries of the world need not become followers of any big powers that they could pressure on independent foreign policy. It was also based on a resolve to democratize the international system by considering an alternative world order to redress existing inequities.