Performing Non-alignment: A Dramaturgical Account

• In Event: Major Power Competition and Internal Politics in Asia

Abstract

If analysts of alignment politics are to be believed, there is little non-alignment to be found in world politics. One set of conceptual treatments argues that non-alignment is a “myth” and an “ideal type” among alignment choices pursued by developing countries and is rare if not impossible to accomplish in practice. Another set of treatments specifies some essential criterion to conceptualize this phenomenon – often, the presence or absence of defence cooperation with a major power – which is then used to adjudicate whether a state is non-aligned or not. While there is plenty of scepticism about “real” and “genuine” non-alignment, claims to non-alignment have appeared with much vigor among developing countries since the Cold War and after, and including among states that enjoy limited and tight alignments with the major powers. While these claims to non-alignment might appear bogus, inflated, and spurious, it begs the question: why do political and diplomatic actors expend considerable time and effort in making these claims over carefully staged performances, and what are these performances doing?

This paper shines the spotlight on these performances – comprising state and official visits, press conferences, diplomatic events, and the more routine “interaction rituals” of diplomacy – by which much of the professing of non-alignment by developing country elites actually occurs. Drawing on cultural studies and the ‘performance turn’ in diplomatic studies, this paper proposes a dramaturgical approach to study non-alignment. Such an approach foregrounds the staging and enactment of non-alignment and pays attention to the elements that typically constitute a performance: the stage, the performers, and an audience. The paper then asks what are the uses of these performances that make them meaningful for political and diplomatic actors. I offer three tentative answers: one, these diplomatic performances become a resource in power struggles within the ruling elite – whether an individual leader staking an authoritative position vis-a-vis other actors and groups, or rival factions within the ruling elite seeking to outmanoeuvre one another. Two, these performances allow the regime/ ruling elite to assuage publics wedded to different national identities and projects, specifically anti-colonial ones, and especially when the regime is seen to accommodate major power interests. Three, these performances allow an incumbent regime/elite to signal disaffection or reassurance to a Major Power to secure greater resources, commitment, or status. I explore this dramaturgical approach by looking at three stalwart cases of non-alignment in the developing world from the Cold War: India, Indonesia (under both Sukarno and Suharto), and Cambodia under Prince Sihanouk.

Author

• Deepak Nair, Australian National University