The Making of a Settler Colony: Israel, the Non-Aligned Movement, and the Politics of Third World Solidarity
The New South Institute (NSI) is pleased to share its latest research publication, which investigates the historical foundations and evolving definitions of settler colonialism, as well as the political discourses that inform and shape them. Titled The Making of a Settler Colony: Israel, the Non Aligned Movement, and the Politics of Third World Solidarity, the working paper raises urgent and complex questions about when historical processes become subject to moral or political judgment – especially in the context of ongoing debates about how the State of Israel is conceptualised and framed within competing normative and legal paradigms.
By tracing the shifting international status of Israel through political, diplomatic, and academic discourses, the authors demonstrate how history is not only recorded but also actively interpreted, contested, and mobilised for various ends. The paper explores the inherent tensions between historical processes and their retrospective ethical or political assessments, asking when and how the past becomes open to judgment, and who gets to make those determinations.
Drawing on rich and contextualised historical evidence, the paper sheds light on the important role the Non-Aligned Movement has played in shaping global conversations on Israel and Palestine – emphasising how the movement’s stance has evolved over time in response to changing geopolitical conditions and ideological currents.
We invite you to engage with this timely NSI working paper, which contributes to a deeper understanding of global patterns of migration, displacement, and self-determination. In doing so, it also challenges simplistic and essentialist framings of Zionism, offering instead a more nuanced and historically grounded perspective.
