The nonalignment of Afro–Asian States: Policy, perception, and behavior.

Abstract

The purpose of this paper* is to examine the orientation of three Afro-Asian states in world politics during the mid 1950s and early 1960s-an important period in the development of their current international posture-with primary emphasis on the relationship between official policy, attitudes of the national leaderships, and actual behaviour. Nations do not always behave in accordance with stated policies, nor are their actions necessarily congruent with dominant attitudes. The degree of consistency between these three aspects of national orientation is the question to which this enquiry is addressed. The states exa- mined-India, Egypt, and Indonesia-were selected not because they represent Afro-Asia as a whole, but because they expressed in the most forceful terms the position of the "third world" during this period.