The Rise of Asia

Sixty years after the 1961 Belgrade Conference of Non-Aligned Countries, the bipolar geopolitical order of the world has disappeared in the past 30 years; if the count starts at the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991. Yet, the Non-Aligned Movement as an alternative to bipolarism continues to operate. It is the largest grouping of states worldwide after the United Nations. 120 state members of the Movement continue to periodically organise summits involving their heads of state or of government. How come the Movement continues to survive while the bipolarism as its raison d’etre does not exist anymore? Is there any hidden meaning of non-alignment? is there non-alignment on other issues than bipolarism? On the other hand, Asia continues to rise. In 1970, Asia was the poorest continent in the world, and marginal except for its large population. By 2016, its share of the world’s gross domestic product rose from less than one-tenth to three-tenths, while its income per capita surpassed that of developing countries and converge`d towards the world average income level. Growth in gross domestic product and gross domestic product per capita in Asia was much higher than that in the world economy, industrialized countries, and the developing world, both Africa and Latin America. Over this period, the share of Asia in world industrial production jumped from a miniscule 4 per cent to more than 40 per cent. Its share of world merchandise trade rose from one-twelfth to one-third. The rising Asia raises questions: does Asia still need NAM? Or in other words, is NAM still relevant to Asia and other parts of the world? And what to do with NAM? It is to answer those questions that the 5th edition of The Rise of Asia Conference 2021, dedicated to the 60th anniversary of the Belgrade Conference of Non-Aligned Nations, was organised and this book published under the direction of Darwis Khudori (France-based Indonesian writer, architect and historian, professor of Oriental Studies at the U