The Non-Aligned Movement: Genesis Organization and Politics.

"This is the most sublimely comprehensive study of the Non-Aligned Movement up to the late 1980s—he says to 1992—and a wonderful book for two reasons. One is that he doesn’t rely on one single set of archives; he really goes to many different ones, all over the world. The Yugoslav archives are the most developed, but there are other archives—including German archives because, due to the separation between East and West Germany, the Non-Aligned Movement was being monitored by both sides. There are also Indian archives, the UN archives, and so on. It’s a beautifully thorough book in that sense. The second reason that it’s really good is that it doesn’t start with Belgrade. It actually starts with the 1927 Brussels conference of the League Against Imperialism. Many of the leading figures were in exile in Paris, or in Vienna, and they met in Brussels. And then as the Bandung process in 1955, and then the Non-Aligned Movement carried on, many of them pointed out that they didn’t need to meet in Brussels anymore. They could meet in their own territories. “There’s always that tension: the more members you have, the more difficult to get real consensus” The way he sees the struggle against colonialism as a much longer one is absolutely wonderful. I’m writing a text now with another author about the Lusaka summit in 1970. And, sometimes, I think I’ve discovered something really new in the archives. And I go back and read what Juergen has written, and it’s there. So, a little bit of me hates him! But we’re in touch. It’s a great book that you can read once and then go back to. Over forty years earlier, Peter Willetts published his comprehensive study of the Non-Aligned Movement using data on voting patterns in the UN, for example. It was a pioneering book and I am delighted that Peter agreed to contribute a chapter to the collection I have edited. But Jurgen’s book takes the story much further."