Bandung Conference

Bandung Conference Summary

The Bandung Conference of 1955 was a watershed moment in global relations. It was held from April 18-24, 1955 in the city of Bandung, Indonesia. It was a meeting of Asian and African countries' leaders and is sometimes also called the Asian-African Conference.

The 1955 Bandung Conference helped the countries of Asia and Africa to assert their independence. Let's trace its context, the participants, and significance in this Bandung Conference summary.

Fig 1 - Delegates meeting at the Bandung Conference of 1955.

Context of the Bandung Conference of 1955

The Bandung Conference of 1955 was held in the context of two important developments in global relations.

First, the Cold War pitted the capitalist USA against the communist Soviet Union in a global struggle for political and economic influence.

Secondly, this time saw a wave of decolonization. Many new states were emerging from European colonial rule in Asia and Africa.

These countries sought to define their place in the world. In many cases, they felt caught between the emerging super power conflict. The 1955 Bandung Conference arose out of a desire to define themselves as part of neither the two cold war blocs.

The Global South and the Third World

We often think of the Cold War world as divided into a West led by the United States and an East led by the Soviet Union. This tendency is logical based on the division of Europe.

However, it fails to fully account for countries outside of Europe that do not fit so neatly into this division. These countries are often called the "third world."

Another way of thinking about the world is not divided into east and west or a first, second, and third world, but as a global north south.

This division accounts for the fact that much of the southern hemisphere suffered to some degree under colonialism and imperialism, and their experiences and interests cannot be neatly categorized into the east vs west division.

The Bandung Conference of 1955 was an important moment in defining the third world or global south as a third bloc of countries that sought to cooperate and assert their unique interests.

Fig 2 - Map showing a rough categorization of the US aligned 1st world (blue), USSR aligned 2nd world (red), and the nonaligned 3rd world (green).

Bandung Conference Participants

The Bandung Conference was planned and organized by the leaders of Indonesia, Burma (today known as Myanmar), India, Pakistan, and Ceylon (today known as Sri Lanka). They invited 30 countries to participate.

Apartheid South Africa was specifically excluded for its racist policies. The Central African Federation (the modern day states of Malawi, Zambia, and Zimbabwe) was the only country invited that did not participate, making the total of the Bandung Conference participants 29. Those 29 participants in the Bandung Conference represented over half of the population of the world at the time.

The 29 Bandung Conference participants:

Fig 3 - Map showing the Bandung Conference participants.

Bandung Conference Results

The main concern at the Bandung Conference was these newly independent countries' desire to assert their independence and sovereignty. Many were concerned about continued colonial and imperial pressures from the USA and Western aligned colonial powers like Britain and France.

It was for this reason US Secretary of State John Foster Dulles was suspicious of the conference and thought it might be a forum for the further spread of communism, especially since China was a participant. Land reform, national control of natural resources, and other alternative economic models were often seen by US officials through the lens of the Cold War.

However, most of the participants in the Bandung Conference, while not necessarily in favor of traditional Western capitalism, were not necessarily sympathetic to communism either. Some were firmly aligned with the US, and many feared the USSR's overtures to them were just another form of imperialism.

Therefore, the Bandung Conference's results included the condemnation of all forms of imperialism and calling for economic cooperation between the participants to prevent over reliance on either the USA or the USSR.

Bandung Conference of 1955 Declaration

The immediate result of the Bandung Conference of 1955 was a declaration from the Bandung Conference participants. It laid out 10 principles:

1. Human rights should be respected
2. Sovereignty and borders of countries should be respected
3. All races and countries should be treated equally
4. Countries should not interfere in the internal politics of others
5. Countries had a right to defense
6. No country should serve the interests of the more powerful countries or pressure another to act a certain way
7. No country should threaten another
8. Disputes between countries should be settled peacefully
9. Participants agreed to cooperate and promote mutual interests
10. Countries should respect justice and international obligations

Influence on Further Cooperation in the Third World

Another of the Bandung Conference's results was the creation of a "spirit of Bandung" that hoped to continue building on the foundations laid at the conference.

In particular, there was hope for further cooperation and collaboration to promote alternative economic, political, and social orders to the Cold War's dichotomy of capitalism vs communism.

The Non-Aligned Movement

The Bandung Conference is often seen as the foundation of the Non-Aligned Movement. That interpretation is both true and false.

The Non-Aligned Movement arose separately and included other countries outside of Asia and Africa, such as Yugoslavia, and its origin is better traced to the 1961 Belgrade Conference. Some of the Bandung Conference participants were also aligned with the US or USSR and never joined the Non-Aligned Movement.

Still, one of the Bandung Conference's results was that it was the first time many of the leaders who eventually joined the Non-Aligned Movement had met, including India's Jawaharlal Nehru and Egypt's Gamal Abdel Nasser, who along with Yugoslavia's Tito were important proponents of the Non-Aligned Movement.

Therefore, while the Non-Aligned Movement should not be seen as a direct result of the Bandung Conference, the conference should be seen as an important moment on the way to its creation.

Fig 4 - Photograph of some of the Bandung Conference's participants, including Nasser and Nehru.

Significance of the Bandung Conference of 1955

The main importance of the Bandung Conference of 1955 was its clear indication that the world was not simply divided into a capitalist west and a communist east, and that the age of imperialism had come to an end.

It allowed for a forum for the newly created states of Asia and Africa to declare that they sought to establish their independence and prosperity free from the domination of either of the superpowers and also promoted cooperation between them for doing so. It also helped to inspire further movements for independence.

Another importance of the Bandung Conference of 1955 is that it laid the foundations for other forms of cooperation such as the Non-Aligned Movement and the Group of 77 (G77), established in 1964. Regional cooperative groups such as the Arab League and African Union can also be seen as being influenced by the "spirit of Bandung."

Fig 5 - A stamp issued in Indonesia for the 50th anniversary of the Bandung Conference of 1955.

In 2005, an Asian-African Summit was held in Bandung to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Bandung Conference of 1955. Over 100 nations attended and the summit issued a call for further cooperation, a testament to the importance of the Bandung Conference of 1955 even in more recent times.