Alliances

Alliances, or formal associations between two political bodies to further their common interests, are one of the most recurrent phenomena in the field of international politics. Most definitions of alliance focus on four basic elements: its formal nature (based on a treaty signed by states), its cooperative dimension (states agree to join forces to pursue some common goal), its external orientation (alliances are usually against states outside their own membership), and its military character (the content of cooperation is related to security). Overall, this conception is a correct one, albeit of a limited nature.