India, June 8 -- It is rare to see new academic theories permeate into the vocabulary of world leaders. That is precisely what has happened with "active non-alignment" (ANA), an idea propagated by Chilean practitioners Jorge Heine, Carlos Fortin, and Carlos Ominami. Heads of government and foreign ministers from Indonesia, Brazil, Malaysia, and South Africa have used this term recently to describe their country's foreign policy positions.

In response to the war in Iran, Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto took a position "consistent with the principle of active non-alignment to continue to push for a peaceful resolution and prevent the spread of conflict." Malaysian Prime Minister (PM) Anwar Ibrahim adopted a "posture of active non-ali...