This week's 15th ministerial summit of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) in Tehran
represents an excellent opportunity for the developing world to sound its
sirens about the mismanagement of the global order and to be "more proactive",
as suggested by United Nations secretary general Ban Ki-moon, who has praised
NAM as the "voice of a new and more powerful South". [1]
In the context of a slowing world economy, rising economic woes for many NAM
member states [2], particularly those in the lowest bracket known as the
least-developed countries, adversely affected by the double blows of soaring
energy and food prices, it is abundantly clear that in the full range of issues
on NAM's plate, the bread and butter issues of economic development cannot, and
should not, take a back seat to other issues such as peace, security, human
rights and cultural diversity.
Unfortunately, NAM is ill-equipped to tackle economic issues and in the
post-Cold War milieu has proved more apt in addressing political, that is, war
and peace, issues, given NAM's hopeless effort to revitalize the UN's economic
arm, the Economic and Social Council, as the main venue for promoting its
economic agenda.
Yet, such UN-focused approaches to economic development may be a hope against
hope and NAM desperately needs a new and bold initiative on the economic front,
otherwise its legitimacy may soon be questioned by its constituents, who happen
to be the majority of world's population inhabiting the "Third World".
Pursuing a new level of economic multilateralism, on the other hand, means that
NAM must replicate its current coordinating efforts at the UN at other world
organizations, such as the World Trade Organization (WTO), currently wrapping
up the marathon Dohan rounds of negotiations on trade, as well as at world
financial institutions.
So far, only feeble steps, for example in the realm of NAM-led international
financial cooperation for development, have been envisaged, even though all NAM
leaders agree on the need for a new paradigm. In addition to 118 member states,
eight regional organizations have observer status at NAM, which could benefit
greatly from a more spirited NAM initiative on the global economy.
As a fount of global policy, NAM's key challenge is precisely how to prove
relevant in the face of growing developmental issues bedeviling its "family of
nations". Enough bemoaning the retarded achievement of the UN's Millennium
Development Goals that has become a staple of speeches of NAM representatives
at the UN. A de-centering of NAM's economic focus from the UN may be necessary,
perhaps by envisaging a new economic sub-unit.
NAM has recently taken similar initiatives, such as forming a new center on
human rights and cultural diversity that was adopted at a NAM meeting in Tehran
last year. There is no logical reason for avoiding an economic center, in
addition to the South Center in Geneva that has been acting as a de facto
economic arm of the movement. A doubling of NAM's economic efforts, geared to
achieve concrete results instead of paper formalities, is essential for a new
form of international governance that was dreamt by the movement's founding
leaders a half century ago. In terms of historical perspectives, this would be
tantamount to taking NAM to the next stage, thus the appropriateness of NAM 2.
With respect to this week's NAM summit of foreign ministers in Tehran, two
working committees on political and social-economic issues have already put
together a 100-page document, covering an array of regional and global issues -
terrorism, human rights, fair trade, sustainable development,
poverty-reduction, countering unilateralism, promoting multilateralism,
elevating women's status - for adoption as the summit's final communique.
A separate communique regarding Iran's nuclear program is also in the works,
which is why Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki requested in his
inaugural speech for NAM's support in Iran's bid to become a non-permanent
member of the UN Security Council, given the vote at the UN in this regard in
the autumn.
NAM countries should endorse Iran's quest to join the Security Council as this
would strengthen the UN-based negotiations on Iran's nuclear program in light
of the UN Security Council resolutions imposing sanctions on Iran and Iran's
related failure to jettison the Security Council from the nuclear row by
getting its file back in the hands of International Atomic Energy Agency. What
is more, Iran's presence at the Security Council may generate a new momentum in
terms of Iran's compliance with the council's resolutions on Iran with regard
to its nuclear program.
At the same time, Iran must realize that it may be risking NAM's prestige, as
well as legitimacy, if NAM throws its weight behind its current bid to join the
Security Council yet without any tangible signs of flexibility on Iran's part
to resolve the nuclear standoff. In particular, China, which coordinates its
policies with NAM, may suffer a setback diplomatically if it backs Iran's
efforts without seeing any sign of improvement in the nuclear crisis.
Still, with disarmament on its agenda, NAM has the opportunity to utilize the
Iranian, and even North Korean, nuclear issues to put heat on the nuclear-have
states to stop their current nuclear arms modernization programs and to instead
provide real signs of genuine disarmament. And this is precisely where Iran, a
self-declared "frontline state in NAM's movement", to paraphrase Mottaki, can
play a pivotal role by linking the Security Council's discussions on Iran with
discussions of disarmament.
In conclusion, the international challenges of NAM are daunting and, given the
sheer size and divergence of interests and allegiances of its member states, it
is actually a small miracle that NAM has not lost its momentum in the post-Cold
War era. All the same, its viability remains fragile and subject to the
creative acumen of its leadership, which must now insert NAM fully into heated
economic debates - about revised globalization, new South-South and North-South
dynamics, food crises, world agricultural policies, otherwise the specter of
failure looms large.
Note
1. Despite his stated support for the NAM, secretary general Ban Ki-moon has
not been adequately cognizant of NAM's concerns, as reflected in his recent
report on reform of the development pillar of the UN, which has triggered a
critical response by NAM representatives at the UN expressing "disappointment
that the views, priorities and role of developing nations ... are not
adequately reflected in the report".
2. The Non-Aligned Movement is an international organization of states
considering themselves not formally aligned with or against any major power
bloc. It was founded in April 1955; as of 2008, it has 118 members.
Kaveh L Afrasiabi, PhD, is the author of After Khomeini: New
Directions in Iran's Foreign Policy (Westview Press) and co-author of
"Negotiating Iran's Nuclear Populism", Brown Journal of World Affairs, Volume
XII, Issue 2, Summer 2005, with Mustafa Kibaroglu. He also wrote "Keeping
Iran's nuclear potential latent", Harvard International Review, and is author
of
Iran's Nuclear Program: Debating Facts Versus Fiction. For his
Wikipedia entry, click here.
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