The Non-Aligned Movement was created to stand apart from the Cold War. Lorenz Luthi argues, however, that the Non-Aligned Movement was a product of the Cold War and was almost torn apart by it during the 1961-1973 period. From the start, Cold War issues--such as the division of Germany, nuclear weapons, the Middle East conflict, and the Indochina war--impaired the cohesion of the Non-Aligned Movement. Internal weakness and the lack of a clear agenda were also responsible for the movement's political demise by the early 1970s. 

Lorenz Lüthi received his PhD from Yale University in 2003 and is now associate professor of history at McGill University. His first book, The Sino Soviet Split, was published by Princeton University Press in 2008. Professor Lüthi is currently working on a book on the regional Cold Wars in Asia, the Middle East, and Europe.