The Bandung Conference

Download or read book Bandung Revisited written by See Seng Tan and published by NUS Press. This book was released on 2008 with total page 244 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The 1955 Asian-African conference (the "Bandung Conference") was a meeting of 29 Asian and African nations that sought to draw on Asian and African nationalism and religious traditions to forge a new international order that was neither communist nor capitalist. It led six years later to the non-aligned movement. Few would dispute the notion that the inaugural meeting in 1955 was a watershed in international history, but there is much disagreement about its long-term legacy and its significance for present-day international affairs. Determining the what, why and how of this monumental event remains a challenge for students of the Conference and of Third World international politics. Was it a post-colonial ideological reaction to the passing of the age of empire or an innovative effort to promote a new regionalism based on mutual goodwill and strong regional ties? Were its principles of peaceful coexistence a rhetorical flourish or a substantive policy initiative? Did the Conference help define North-South relations? And in what way did the Conference contribute to the regional order of contemporary Asia? -- Back cover.