Date of Award

1-1-2001

Thesis Type

Masters

Document Type

Thesis

Divisions

Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences

Department

Department of History

Institution

Universiti Malaya

Abstract

The emergence of a large number of sovereign states in the post-second world war period generated a new class of issues, perceptions, and feelings as well as theories and approaches of handling the problem of inter-relationships among countries. After the independence of the new states they realised that the existing economic order was highly unequal and detrimental to their interests. They receive unfavourable and unjust treatment from the developed nations in the course of international interactions through non-reciprocal economic relationships, as well as domination in political, security, information, culture and educational aspects--all of which have direct and indirect impact upon the developing nations. Due to the overwhelming power of the developed nations in global politics, they are able to manipulate other spheres connected with human rights, workers rights and environment to thwart the economic growth of certain non-western societies that may have the potential to challenge their dominance. Consequently, the new nations felt that a new world order should be fostered which is more equitable and rational. To approach this noble objective, the developing nations adopted collective diplomacy, originated from the initiatives taken by some leaders of the newly independent countries from 1950s and in particular from Afro­ Asian national leaders such as Nehru of India, Surkano of lndonesia, Tito of Yugoslavia and Nkrumah of Ghana. This initiative materialized in the first meeting at Bandung, Indonesia in 1955 which laid the foundation for the birth of the Non-Aligned Movement in 1961 in Yugoslavia under the leadership of Josip Tito. The formation three years later of the Group of 77(G77) and finally the Gl5 under the leadership of Mahathir Mohamad in 1990 marked the efforts of the Developing Countries in adopting new strategies for empowerment of the South. Since then, a series of diplomatic moves have been going on both at sub-regional, regional, and international level, to redress the inequitable socio-economic and political relationship between the developed and developing nations, with the aim of evolving a new international order that is more just and equitable. In spite of all the diplomatic moves already initiated by the South to ensure an equitable international order, widespread poverty and inadequate policies stunt individual potentials in a sizeable number of countries. In most cases, the poorest segment of the population are yet to benefit from overall economic growth. Poverty and inequality are contributing to political instability in most developing nations, while violent conflicts ravage the lives of many, and the foundation for durable peace and security remain fragile. While efforts are made to reverse the situation, the developed nations only pay lip service to North-South Dialogue. Instead, the main policies and decisions are made in their own interest to maintain the status quo. This thesis, therefore, focuses on alternative approaches taken by the Developing Countries to redress existing grievances in the form of South-South Cooperation, self-reliance and a reduction of dependence on the developed nations. Specifically, this work critically examines the role of three South Nations namely, Malaysia, Nigeria, and the Post-Apartheid South Africa in designing a framework, and creating new modalities for South-South Cooperation. In recent years, South-South cooperation has demonstrated a great potential through the sharing of Asian experiences with African countries. The potential benefits to Africa of Asian-African and intra-African cooperation could be captured further by strengthening African capacity to learn and apply lessons from other regions' development experiences, and by establishing effective mechanisms that promote South-South cooperation in various forms--such as the Langkawi International Dialogue (by Malaysia), and the Lagos Plan of Action (by Nigeria). Conflict resolution efforts in the African continent, such as those undertaken by Mandela's New South Africa, symbolize more recent measures to promote peace and stability in the South. Nevertheless, it is admitted that many of the problems faced by the South are largely internally generated, and can only be resolved by committed national leaderships who are prepared to genuinely undertake the needed measures to redress the problem In this way, even the North can play a supplementary role in fostering more meaningful cooperation through the framework of North-South inter-dependence.

Initial

snms

Additional Information

Dissertation (M.A) -- Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, Universiti Malaya, 2001.

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