Bandung Spirit Research Articles

The Long March from Bandung: The Ghost of the Bandung Spirit in Contemporary Relations between China and Africa

When Chinese President Hu Jintao (胡锦涛) gave the opening address at the Jakarta reception of the Asian-African Business Summit (亚非商业峰会) in 2005, he characterized contemporary relations between China and various African states thusly “[In] the world today, economic globalization is further developing…[this] presents Asian and African countries with rare opportunities as well as severe challenges…. [We] must…develop a new type of strategic partnership between Asia and Africa...to carry on the Bandung spirit and contribute to the continuous progress in Asia and Africa”. The importance of the Bandung Conference in the Cold War era is beyond debate; what has been debated is its lasting relevance. This paper examines the global economic rise of post-Cold War China and its “new strategic partnerships” (新型战略伙伴关系) with various African states and argues that the “partnerships”, which specifically promote pragmatic cooperation and mutual benefits between the two regions in trade, industry, investment, finance, embody the “Bandung Spirit” (万隆精神). It argues that what we are seeing now in China’s relationship with Africa is the culmination of a process begun by Premier Zhou Enlai (1898-1976) at the Bandung Conference of 1955.

From Bandung (1955) to 2015: Old and New Challenges for the States, The Nations and The Peoples of Asia, Africa and Latin America

The first wave of the revival of the states and nations of Asia and Africa which shaped major changes in history organized itself in the Bandung spirit. The framework was that of countries non-aligned to neo-colonialism, the pattern of globalization at that time. Now, the same nations, as well as those of Latin America, are challenged by neoliberal globalization, which is no less imbalanced by nature. Therefore, they must unite to face the challenge successfully as they did in the past. They will, in that perspective, feed a new wave of revival and progress of the three continents. To that effect they need to take forward the construction of alternative sovereign, popular and democratic projects in the three continents. This essay examines some major dimensions of that challenge.

The ‘Bandung spirit’ and solidarist internationalism

ABSTRACTIt must come as no surprise that traces of any continuing relevance of the ‘Bandung spirit’ are enthusiastically being sought in the wake of the sixtieth anniversary of the Asian-African Conference. It was the first high-profile formal conference of newly independent (or ‘about-to-be independent’) post-colonial states at a rather momentous historical conjuncture: the continuing struggles for decolonisation were pronounced in the context of the Cold War. The Final Communiqué of the Bandung conference strongly articulated a collective political project against colonialism and imperialism, and for self-determination and racial equality, while already laying the foundations for the idea of strategic non-alignment in the context of the Cold War. It is in this sense that the Bandung conference has come to be emblematic of an event that inaugurated a radically different international political landscape to the immediate post-1945 world order. In this article, the authors focus specifically on the development aspirations articulated at the Asian-African Conference in Bandung, which they argue are the site of struggles and contradictions. As the authors show, the ‘Bandung spirit’ underlined the political project of Third Worldism, as well as the call for a new international economic order in the 1970s. Yet, they also identify some constraints and contradictions that the ‘Bandung spirit’ had to navigate and the challenges it was up against. In the final part of the article, the authors briefly discuss the extent to which the ‘Bandung spirit’ continues to resonate in contemporary global politics of development.

Diversity, democratisation and Indonesian leadership

ABSTRACTIndonesia's normative leadership at the 1955 Asian-African Conference was grounded in anti-colonialism that became part of the ‘Bandung spirit’. However, the shape of Indonesia's recent leadership, following its remarkable democratisation, is harder to fathom. In response, this article suggests that Indonesia's regional and international engagements can be usefully understood through the lens of shifting domestic efforts to navigate unity with diversity, including as this is reflected in long-standing foreign policy commitments. Empirical reference points include the management of conflict in the Indonesian democratic transition, the place of civilian militias in Indonesian political life, and the Bali Democracy Forum. The case is made that Indonesia exhibits a remarkable embrace of diversity alongside substantial illiberality—a pattern that generates a flexible form of liberalism which presents difficulties, but also suggests particular opportunities for Indonesian leadership. Considering Indonesian navigation of unity with diversity enables a better understanding of the current and potential future shape of Indonesian leadership than analyses that rely on macro-level expectations of democratisation drawn from dominant liberal understandings of democracy and political order. This is in part because of the continuing salience of commitments to diversity, independence and cooperation that were articulated at Bandung in 1955.

Remaking Bandung 60 years on

This Communication Article proposes that if the Bandung Spirit is to be revived in the twenty-first century, then this will necessitate an appreciation in the first instance of how different the world is today from conditions 60 years ago – both across the Global South but also, more particularly, in the West. The key shift may have been one from an assertive imposition of rule based on a clarity of vision and purpose, to a more insecure and reactive form of engagement that lacks direction. This latter seeks to compensate for an absence of meaning behind forms of procedural risk management. It will be the ability of the former colonies to put forward a direction that captivates all, based on transcending the past and presenting coherent human values rather than mere economic might that will determine the future.

The Asian-African Conference (Bandung) and Pan-Africanism: the challenge of reconciling continental solidarity with national sovereignty

ABSTRACTThe 1955 Asian-African Conference (Bandung) has been hailed as a turning point in the emergence of the Global South solidarity movement and a pivotal moment in southerners’ collective quest both to liberate themselves from colonialism and to reforge the international order on more inclusive and emancipatory foundations. In this article, the author demonstrates how, in Africa, these aspirations were undermined by nationalist ambitions that privileged self-contained sovereign statehood over potentially more progressive continental solidarity under the Pan-African spirit. The author does so by analysing how the absorption of the Bandung spirit within the Pan-African movement reinforced opportunities for the pursuit of national interests, the affirmation of colonial geographies and economies, and the intensification of forms of solidarities built on the imagined fruits of independence at the expense of a shared history of colonialism. For many African countries, the enduring lessons of the Bandung spirit reside in the challenges of resolving the tensions over the appropriate context for pursuing self-determination and transforming the international order. Thus, while the Bandung spirit delivered the means for newly independent states to engage in international politics through interstate solidarities, it also helped to accelerate the foreclosure of alternative possibilities for intervening in and reshaping the prevailing international order.

Rethinking the legacies of Bandung

ABSTRACTBy explaining the different trajectories that the “Bandung spirit” has taken since its inception in the mid-1950s, including various popular organizations that have not only been influenced by the Bandung conference but have taken the original ideas and actions into more progressive directions, it is argued in this article that the inclusion of the popular element is not only important to understand the history of the “Bandung spirit” but is also a necessary part of our thinking about the future of Bandung as a political project.

The world without Bandung, or for a polycentric system with no hegemony

ABSTRACTThe first wave of revival of States and nations of Asia and Africa which shaped major changes in the history of humankind organized itself in the Bandung spirit in the frame of countries Non-Aligned on colonialism and neo colonialism, the pattern of globalization at that time. Now, the same nations, as well as those of Latin America and the Caribbean, are challenged by neo-liberal globalization, which is no less imbalanced by nature. Therefore, they must unite to face the challenge successfully as they did in the past. In some countries “sovereign” projects are developed that associate active State policies aimed at systematically constructing a national integrated consistent modern industrial productive system, supported by an aggressive export capacity. Views with respect to the degree, format and eventual regulation of opening to foreign capital and financial flows of all kinds (foreign direct investments, portfolio investments, speculative financial investments) differ from country to country. Policies pursued with respect to the access to land and other natural resources also offer a wide spectrum of different choices and priorities.

Perspectives on South-South relations: China's presence in Africa

ABSTRACTThis paper explores the broad questions on China's presence in Africa from the perspectives on South-South relations. More generally, China has a diffuse and growing presence in Africa through trade relations, as the importation of various consumer goods is highly visible in most African capital cities, and numerous smaller towns. The racial problem is compounded by the prevalence of a sinophobic media in which a racial hierarchy constructs the China below whites, albeit with blacks being relegated to the bottom. Yet there are empirically observable racist tendencies amongst the Chinese settlers towards Africans, although this is often overstated. China has become influential in Africa at the level of trade, investments and geo-political relations, but it is far from being a hegemonic recolonizer. Moreover, Africa is increasingly militarized, but China is not substantially engaged at this level. The paper concludes by suggest that much more research is necessary in the future in terms of understanding South-South international relations, so that many more people learn more about countries in the Global South and their complex set of interactions. This requires various African intellectual networks to re-visit the Bandung spirit and reconstruct the idea of non-alignment and solidarity.

Revisiting the Bandung Conference: berbeda sejak dalam pikiran

ABSTRACTThe 60th anniversary of the Bandung Conference seems to be a timely moment to re-evaluate how we frame the Bandung Conference. Glorified as the momentous event of forging Asian-African solidarity to fight colonialism and imperialism, scholars and intellectuals oftentimes look upon the Conference for an alternative framework on solidarity. Although not beyond criticism, the Bandung Spirit remains a sought-after awareness that connects the common historical experience of colonialism and pushes forward the process of decolonization. Much needed, however, is the contextualization of Bandung Conference to Indonesia's state of politics and social affairs. It is imperative that we begin to see the Bandung Conference not as a solitary event in the historiography of Indonesia, but as an event within the trajectory of the newly emerging state. In that sense, we have to reframe the Bandung Conference as dependent upon other events within both the chronological and sporadic history that characterizes the post-independence struggle in Indonesia.

From Bandung (1955) to 2015: Old and New Challenges for the States, the Nations and the Peoples of Asia, Africa and Latin America

This paper reminds us what was really Bandung and non-alignment, which the author understands as having been in its time “non-alignment on the imperialist pattern of globalisation” of the time. Today, again, states and societies of the global South are the victims of the pattern of imperialist unipolar globalisation of our time. Therefore, the challenge is again to construct a South solidarity against globalisation, creating the conditions for a polycentric world order. This is “reviving the spirit of Bandung.”

Behind and beyond Bandung: historical and forward-looking reflections on south-south cooperation

In their respective struggles for liberation the Asians and Africans, as oppressed people, joined forces in the first half of the 20th century by forming several pre-Bandung organizations. On the African side people of African descent, from the continent and the Diaspora, united to provide the leadership for substantive participation to the common African-Asian front that led to the Bandung conference of April 18-24 1955. The intelligentsia of African descent, including young students in Western Europe and the United States, played leadership roles in shaping the movements. Among them are W. E. B. Du Bois of the United States and Kwame Nkrumah of Ghana. In terms of the post-Bandung establishment of enduring legacies, it is worth indicating that the resolutions and some of their applications led to global coalitions including the Non-Aligned Movement and G77 within the United Nations. On the occasion of the 50th anniversary that was marked by the April 22-24 2005 Asian-African Summit held in Indonesia African and Asian leaders decided to rekindle the spirit of Bandung and renew their commitment to attain its goal through renewed cooperation between Asia and Africa in adopting the New Asian-African Strategic Partnership (NAASP). Despite the continued challenges that African countries face in varying degrees, a regained confidence building on their assets, especially with different generations of people of the continent and historic and recent Diaspora, with it would be possible to build a global front toward the reaffirmation of global common humanity guided by the spirit of Bandung.

Between Bandung and Doha: International Economic Law and Developing Countries

This paper explains the legal and political dilemmas facing developing countries during the cold war period and contrasts them with the international position today. The first part, covering the period between the Bandung Conference and the adoption of the UN Resolutions on the New International Economic Order, shows how developing countries managed to come together and influence the development of international law. The second part, focusing on the outlines of the legal framework of economic globalization, identifies the main factors responsible for the demise of the Bandung spirit among developing countries. It focuses in particular on the legal strategies employed by developed countries to deepen the process of globalization and on the divisive consequences of global economic integration on developing countries.

Bandung Is Back

Contemporary considerations of the Bandung Conference and the vision of Afro-Asian affinity that it raised have been tinged with skepticism. Through the lens of a world defined by the Cold War, with its vision of decolonized people coming together against the West with a spirit of ressentiment, Afro-Asian solidarity means little more for the former colonial powers than a pragmatic politics of a new elite seeking to consolidate itself. Very little historical work has been done to show the emerging network of affinities, ideologies, and institutions that made up the texture of the Afro-Asian world. And, again, the role of the Soviet Union in the decolonized world needs a rethinking outside of the Cold War frame. This review argues that an evaluation of a few works of literature cannot be a substitute for historical research. Arguably, the emerging theoretical challenge from the global South to Western epistemologies builds on the Bandung spirit.

‘Bandung Spirit’ as Antithesis and Asia as a Concept in the Korean Imagination(1955~1965)

‘Bandung Spirit’ as Antithesis and Asia as a Concept in the Korean Imagination(1955~1965)

Heading South

Terminology is always a site of politics, and "global South" is no exception. Many of the places proposed as likely areas for discussion in the pages of this new journal are not, in fact, south of the equator. Nor are other areas that are, in fact, south of the border necessarily as appropriate for discussion in this journal. Yet it is appropriate to reach for another terminological alleyway like this one to help us reimagine, yet again, the peoples and topics in question. "Postcolonial," either with or without a hyphen, is contentious; "commonwealth," of course, has been long abandoned (and for starters, is totally Anglocentric). "Non-aligned" is, perhaps, somewhat closer, but a good number of the "southern" peoples are, in fact, aligned. But the spirit of Bandung suggests that there is a general sense among the peoples in question that they recognize each other, and that they share a common destiny of being the industrialized world's underdogs. Can this sixth sense also give hope for a broader and non-eurocentric cosmopolitanism, even a "subaltern" cosmospolitanism. Can a recuperation of the histories of such "other" mercantile and cultural interchanges, such as that of the Indian Ocean world, enliven and empower these groups to render a "flat" world something that is not inevitably one in which they are, once again, those who are pressed beneath the iron?

Global solidarity against unilateralism

The 1955 Bandung Conference was a crucial moment in the history of the former colonial states of Asia and Africa. The Bandung Spirit that came out of it was a strategic foundation for building solidarity and cooperation among nations. The Cold War period and its aftermath, however, indicate that the Bandung spirit was in decline. Meanwhile, the United States, which had intended to unilaterally disrupt the Bandung Conference, continues to conduct unilateral actions in pursuit of its hegemonic interests. Along this line, the United Nations has often been bypassed by the US and other powerful nations in their unilateral initiatives. In response to this situation, it is important to rekindle the Bandung Spirit and to struggle for the democratization of international relations. In today’s context the struggle should be focused on three areas, namely the democratization of world politics, world economy, and the United Nations.

The Spirit of Bandung and the struggle for freedom in South Africa

The Spirit of Bandung and the struggle for freedom in South Africa This paper analyses the work of a conference that took place in April 1955 at Bandung, Central Jawa, Indonesia. The conference was and is still an important event in the lives of the oppressed people. Representatives came from 29 African and Asian underdeveloped countries. They came to promote economic and cultural co-operation and to oppose colonialism. Most of the Afro-Asian and international conflicts were on the agenda. The conference finally agreed on 10 principles as an orientation for the formation of their mutual internal relationships, which includes respecting sovereignty and territorial integrity of nations, equality of all races and all nations, mutual agreement on non-intervention into internal affairs and non-violent conflict solutions. This paper seeks to evaluate the work on Bandung and suggests a way forward to the 50th anniversary of the conference that will take place in 2005.

The “Spirit of Bandung” 1955–1985: Thirty years since the Bandung Conference

On 24th and 25th April, 1985, delegates from more than 80 Asian and African countries gathered in the Indonesian city of Bandung at the “Gedung Merdeka”, or “House of Freedom”, to commemorate the famous Bandung Asian-African Conference held thirty years previously. What, in retrospect, has been the historical and political significance of Bandung? What have been the achievements of its heirs so far?

China, Thailand and the Spirit of Bandung (Part I)

Political relations between the Kingdom of Thailand and the People's Republic of China are conditioned by important historical, geographical and social facts. While Thailand and China are situated in close proximity to each other on the north and south-west respectively, they do not have a common border; a narrow strip of both Burma and Laos joins to form an intervening corridor. This border region shared by the four countries is an area of rugged mountains and primitive communications. Neither railroad nor all-weather highway connects China with Thailand. The most effective form of land communication between Chiengrai in north Thailand and Che-li in China's southern province is by horseback. The possibility of the movement of heavy traffic over difficult terrain cannot be denied since the experience of the siege of Dien Bien Phu. There are roads of some sort from Yunnan through Burma to Chiengrai, and also (and probably more importantly) from Vietnam through Laos to Nongkhai and Nakhon Phanom.