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Download - LSE Theses Online - London School of Economics and ...

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their stress on peaceful settlement, negotiations, <strong>and</strong> conciliation between the twosuperpowers; their hostility to alliances; their pr<strong>of</strong>essed reliance on moral suasion <strong>and</strong> theforce <strong>of</strong> world public opinion instead <strong>of</strong> physical coercion ... They play the role <strong>of</strong>modifying some <strong>of</strong> the decisions <strong>of</strong> the great powers by affecting their expectations in thecompetition which involves the small countries. It is in this manner that these minor statesmay be said to be influential. 116These states were able to mobilise on major issues <strong>of</strong> significance to them, includingdecolonisation <strong>and</strong> the South Africa issue. NAM was joined by the Group <strong>of</strong> 77(G77), formed at the United Nations Conference on Trade <strong>and</strong> Development(UNCTAD) in 1964.B<strong>and</strong>ung entrenched the principles <strong>of</strong> non-interference <strong>and</strong> respect for sovereignty, at leastin theory, in the relations <strong>of</strong> the developing world. The southern internationalism itengendered was further underscored by ‘(a)n almost physical feeling <strong>of</strong> solidarity<strong>and</strong> shared humiliation’. 117 It had domestic resonance, too. Amrith has shown how,in the case <strong>of</strong> Singapore, internationalism created a space where the highly racialisedpublic sphere could be transcended – thereby potentially, at least rhetorically,undercutting its negative effects. More recently, it may be argued thatinternationalist discourses in the Global South serve a domestic inclusionaryfunction once more. While liberal economics has been accepted as a nationaldevelopment course in the face <strong>of</strong> decades <strong>of</strong> unsuccessful populist economics onthe part <strong>of</strong> ruling parties in selected states <strong>of</strong> the Third World, Marxist outlooks onthe international economic, social <strong>and</strong> political environments are parlayed into atranscontinental ‘Southern’ internationalism, potentially uniting government elites<strong>and</strong> grassroots activists in opposition to northern neoliberal economics, 118 to thebenefit <strong>of</strong> governing parties (this will be discussed further in the case study chapters,Chapters 5 <strong>and</strong> 6).116 Anabtawi, “The Afro-Asian States”, 900.117 Sunil Amrith, “Asian internationalism: B<strong>and</strong>ung’s echo in a colonial metropolis”, Inter-Asia cultural studies, 6: Issue 4 (2005): 558.118It would be erroneous, however, uncritically to liken mass transnational mobilisationsagainst globalisation (<strong>of</strong> the types seen at Seattle in 1999 <strong>and</strong> Genoa in 2001, <strong>and</strong> thevarious World Social Forums) with state-led internationalism in the Global South, assuggested by some commentators (See Lawler, “The Good State”, 439-440). While bothsuffer the shortcoming <strong>of</strong> lacking the sanction <strong>of</strong> the ‘voiceless’ to be their ‘voice’, theyare representative <strong>of</strong> vastly different interests <strong>and</strong> international objectives. While theyhave achieved some success in t<strong>and</strong>em, as in the international campaign to banl<strong>and</strong>mines (ICBL), they remain divided on various issues, such as l<strong>and</strong> redistribution,<strong>and</strong> in some cases, environmental policy.67

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