Yugoslav membership in the Non-Aligned Movement was initially distinctly political; it represented a quest for alternative political alliances, for “alternative mondialization”.  On the other hand, it also had and pursued a pragmatic agenda. The movement soon acquired an economic dimension and created new spheres of interest and exchange between Yugoslavia and the non-aligned countries. In the early stages, intense economic collaboration saw Yugoslav construction companies working on projects in Africa and the Middle East, companies that had sprung up as a consequence of Yugoslavia’s rapid urbanization following the Second World War. Dubravka Sekulić has done research on the ways Yugoslavia and the decolonized countries in Africa became unexpected allies in the process of trying to articulate how one could be modern by one’s own rules, i.e. how to direct one’s own modernization process.