Final answer:
The Non-Aligned Movement was an initiative by nations wishing to stay neutral during the Cold War, created to industrialize without reliance on either the United States or the Soviet Union. The correct answer for a way for "third world" states to not pick a side in the Cold War is A. Non-Aligned Movement.
Step-by-step explanation:
The Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) was a collective of nations that sought to maintain independence from the Cold War's dominant powers, the United States and the Soviet Union. Delegates from Asia and Africa gathered at the Bandung Conference in 1955 to establish this third world force, aspiring to industrialize without dependency on the superpowers. Notably, countries such as Yugoslavia, Indonesia, India, and Egypt, became prominent members of the NAM and attempted to sustain a neutral stance, though at times they did receive aid from the superpowers.
In contrast, proxy wars were indirect conflicts where the superpowers supported opposite sides, as in Korea and Vietnam, to avoid direct confrontation. The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) was a Western military alliance against the Soviet threat, and perestroika referred to the economic restructuring initiated by Mikhail Gorbachev in the Soviet Union. Finally, détente was a period of easing tensions between the superpowers, not a strategy for non-alignment.
Therefore, for "third world" states to defend themselves by threatening to align with another superpower without actually taking sides, the correct answer is A. Non-Aligned Movement.