Alliance

An alliance is a partnership between people, groups, or states who join together to help each other or work toward a shared goal. Allies support one another, whether there is a formal agreement or not, for mutual benefit.

Alliances can form in many different areas of life. For example, countries may create political alliances to work together on important issues. In times of conflict, military alliances can bring nations together to protect common interests. Businesses also form alliances to share resources and achieve larger objectives. These partnerships show how working together can create stronger results than acting alone.

Examples

When written with a capital "A", "the Allies" refers to the countries that worked together against their opponents in World War I and World War II.

In the second half of the 20th century, the Cold War saw strong rivalry between two big military groups: NATO and the Warsaw Pact.

More recently, the term "Allied forces" described the group working together in the Gulf War.

At the start of the 21st century, new groups formed based on shared ideas and history, like BRICS. This group started meeting in 2006.

Effects

People who study alliances have different ideas about how they affect the world. Some believe that alliances help prevent fights between countries. Others say that alliances might not always stop conflicts.

Research shows that allies often try to keep their promises, but it doesn’t always happen. Democracies tend to be more reliable allies than other types of governments. Alliances can also help share ideas and technology between friends.

International opinion

A survey from 2017 showed that many countries around the world saw the United States as their favorite ally. Russia, Iran, North Korea, and China were also liked by some, but not as much as the United States. Four countries — Bulgaria, Greece, Slovenia, and Turkey — preferred Russia even though they are part of a group of friendly countries called NATO.

In Pakistan, most people preferred having close ties with China. In Bangladesh, many preferred India. Twenty-two countries liked the United Kingdom a bit, but only the United States liked the United Kingdom more than any other country. Five countries liked France a little, with Belgium liking them the most. Iraq did not have a strong preference, and a few other countries like Lebanon, Palestine, and Slovenia also did not strongly prefer any country. Kosovo strongly preferred the United States, while Mongolia, Armenia, and Serbia strongly preferred Russia.