Movement of Non-Aligned Countries

Non-Aligned Movement (NAM)
Member countries   Observer countries
Location	Jakarta, Indonesia (Headquarters)
Coordinating Bureau	New York City, New York, U.S.
Membership	120 members 17 observers
Leaders
• Principal decision- making organ	Conference of Heads of State or Government of Non-Aligned Countries
• Presidency	Venezuela
• Secretary-General	Nicolás Maduro
Establishment	1961 in Belgrade as the Conference of Heads of State or Government of Non-Aligned Countries
Website csstc.org

The Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) is a group of states that are not formally aligned with or against any major power bloc. As of 2012^[update], the movement has 120 members.

The purpose of the organization has been enumerated as to ensure "the national independence, sovereignty, territorial integrity and security of non-aligned countries" in their "struggle against imperialism, colonialism, neo-colonialism, racism, and all forms of foreign aggression, occupation, domination, interference or hegemony as well as against great power and bloc politics," by Fidel Castro in the Havana Declaration of 1979. The countries of the Non-Aligned Movement represent nearly two-thirds of the United Nations' members and contain 55% of the world population. Membership is particularly concentrated in countries considered to be developing or part of the Third World.

Although many of the Non-Aligned Movement's members were actually quite closely aligned with one or another of the superpowers, the movement still maintained cohesion throughout the Cold War, even despite several conflicts between members which also threatened the movement. In the years since the Cold War's end, it has focused on developing multilateral ties and connections as well as unity among the developing nations of the world, especially those within the Global South.

The founding fathers of the Non-Aligned Movement were Josip Broz Tito of Socialist Yugoslavia, Jawaharlal Nehru of India, Sukarno of Indonesia, Gamal Abdul Nasser of Egypt and Kwame Nkrumah of Ghana. Their actions were known as 'The Initiative of Five'.