‘Alignment, not Alliance: The Shifting Paradigm of International Security Cooperation’

The concept of alliance or preferably ‘alignment’, as I shall explain below – is central to the conduct of international politics, and thus the discipline of International Relations (IR). Duffield et al. (2008: 291) identify that ‘Alliances are one of the most significant phenomena in security studies and world politics more generally’, while Modelski (1963: 773) considers them ‘one of a dozen or so key terms of International Relations’. These views are widely accepted on account of the vast empirical and theoretical bodies of literature dedicated to their study, ranging across the Realist, Liberal, and Constructivist schools of IR, and including both qualitative and quantitative approaches [insert literature sample]. As Snyder (1997: 2) argues ‘Any interaction between states, friendly or hostile, no matter how minor, may create expectations and feelings of alignment or opposition or both.’ This is evident as far back as the C3rdBCE in the writings of the Indian scholar Kautilya (Chanakya). Alignment is a crucial aspect of inter-state relations in the international system and is also fundamental to our understanding of such related areas of enquiry as ‘security architecture’ and ‘coalition warfare’ (Tow FIND/DATE; Wilkins 2006; 2007; 2008). Furthermore, it has been suggested that alignment may provide the ‘missing link’ between the structure of the international system and the processes of unit behaviour, that the discipline seeks to bridge (Snyder: 32). Therefore alignment permeates all aspects of IR, in both its empirical and theoretical dimensions.