Bandung and decolonization

Gathering after colonial rule

In the Cold War, what could be claimed beyond choosing Washington or Moscow? Burma, India, Indonesia, Pakistan and Ceylon invited the 1955 gathering of twenty-nine governments. Western allies and newly independent states discussed independence, discrimination and development, negotiating across differing interests.

Common principles amid different positions

Sovereignty and noninterference protected countries’ ability to determine their paths. The 1954 India–China principles of coexistence helped form a basis; Zhou Enlai sought common ground at Bandung. The communiqué addressed economic and cultural cooperation, rights and discrimination without prescribing identical diplomacy.

Influence and continuing differences

Bandung informed later nonalignment without making national diplomacy uniform. Major powers faced tensions between supporting self-determination and maintaining colonial allies. Bandung’s demands also challenged that gap between principle and policy.

Photographs, films and proceedings convey different aspects of meeting and negotiation. Their 2015 archival recognition concerns modern protection, distinct from the conference and later political organization.

Before and after

1. 1954

   India–China principles of peaceful coexistence.

2. 18 April 1955

   The conference opened.

3. 24 April 1955

   The conference closed.

4. 2015

   Conference archives entered the Memory of the World register.

Key terms

Decolonization

The political process of ending colonial rule.

Respect for sovereignty

Respecting another state’s governing authority.

Non-interference

The principle of not intervening in another state’s internal affairs.

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