Rethinking the Legacies of Bandung Conference: Global Decolonization and the Making of Modern International Order

Abstract

This article aims to investigate the extent to which the Bandung Conference affected the international order after the Second World War. By locating the Bandung Conference in the international order transition between 1945 until 1970, I argue that the Bandung Conference should not be treated as merely a milestone of historic anti‐colonial struggles but also a site for the emergence of a modern international order. The Bandung Conference played a key role in shaping the Westphalian interstate system that acknowledges equal sovereignty among states in world politics. From this viewpoint, this article argues that the legacy of the Bandung Conference lies in its role to mediate the transition from colonial order before the Second World War to the modern international order, which is based on sovereignty and equal status among states as the primary members. It does so by putting forward an agenda for global decolonization and delegitimizes the practices of colonialism. The diplomatic struggle after the Bandung Conference continued until the UN Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples in 1960, which further locates the contribution of the Bandung Conference to the making of the modern international order as we know it in the present day.