Description
The stance of a significant group of postcolonial states in the so-called Global South on the Russian invasion of Ukraine have diverged from, and in some cases directly antagonised, the positions taken by the United States and the European Union. I contend in this paper that these disparities are partially underpinned by the long-standing affiliation of some of these states with a particular notion of non-alignment that has been re-signified in the context of the conflict in Ukraine. I claim that this affiliation with non-alignment has over the years provided postcolonial states with a sense of common purpose and ontological security. This was done through a set of institutionalised practices and narratives anchored on principles such as autonomy, anti-Western colonialism and equality that provided them with a sense of identity and in-group belonging in the unstable context of the Cold War conflict and beyond. The central claim therefore is that these states’ positions are not necessarily related to developments in the war itself, and the undeniable fact of Russia’s aggression and clear violation of international law. Instead, they are rooted in a longstanding sense of ontological (in)security and historical resentment towards the exclusions and hierarchies of the Western-led international order.
