Does it create new enemies?
Discussion question | This is for ages 14 to 16
Alliances are designed to protect the countries inside them. However, countries that are not included can sometimes feel excluded, threatened or surrounded.
Some people argue that when countries form strong military alliances, they may increase tensions or create new threats for those on the outside.
Do military alliances make the world safer for everyone, or can they also create new dangers?
Tell us what you think
You might want to structure your answer like this:
I think alliances make the world [safer / more dangerous] because [your reason]. . I have seen/read that [provide a news source to support your view].
Make sure you read the comments from other Topical Talkers to see whether you agree or disagree with them.
Comments (9)
I think military alliances can make the world more dangerous as well as safer, because they often divide countries into opposing sides instead of encouraging cooperation. Alliances are created to protect their members, but countries that are left out may feel excluded, threatened, or surrounded. This can increase fear and suspicion, which raises tensions rather than reducing them.
A clear example of this is . NATO argues that it is a defensive alliance meant to protect its members, but countries outside the alliance do not always see it that way. , for instance, has long claimed that NATO’s expansion towards Eastern Europe threatens its security. As NATO moved closer to Russia’s borders, mistrust between the two sides grew stronger.
I have read on that Russia viewed becoming closer to NATO as a serious threat. This fear was one of the factors that increased tensions before the war began. This shows how alliances can unintentionally create new enemies by making some countries feel targeted or ignored.
Overall, while alliances can protect their members, they can also create new dangers by deepening global divisions and increasing the risk of conflict instead of promoting peace.
Thank you for your comment, independent_musician. Just be careful to review what you have written before submission: this paragraph was garbled:
A clear example of this is . NATO argues that it is a defensive alliance meant to protect its members, but countries outside the alliance do not always see it that way. , for instance, has long claimed that NATO’s expansion towards Eastern Europe threatens its security.
I think alliances make the world both safer and sometimes more dangerous because they can protect member countries, but they can also increase tensions for those outside them.
On the positive side, alliances like NATO follow the principle of collective defence an attack on one is an attack on all. This creates strong deterrence. Some academic studies suggest that defensive alliances can reduce the probability of conflict by around 18% compared to countries without alliances. A real-life example is the U.S.–Japan security alliance, which has helped maintain stability in East Asia and deter major aggression for decades.
However, alliances can also create new risks. Countries outside them may feel threatened or surrounded. After Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, tensions between Russia and NATO increased, with several military incidents near NATO borders. Historically, during the Cold War, the rivalry between NATO and the Warsaw Pact led to a massive arms race. Some research shows that alliances have sometimes been followed by wars because members feel obligated to support each other.
In conclusion, alliances can strengthen security through deterrence, but they can also raise mistrust and competition. Their impact on world peace depends on how responsibly countries manage them.
Military alliances can both protect countries and sometimes create new tensions, so their impact on global safety is complex. On one hand, alliances allow countries to cooperate, share resources, and defend each other against threats. For example, organizations like NATO were created to prevent conflict by making it clear that an attack on one member would be treated as an attack on all. This kind of unity can discourage wars and help maintain stability, especially when countries work together on peacekeeping, disaster response, and security planning. Cooperation through global institutions such as the United Nations also shows how collective action can reduce conflict and encourage dialogue instead of violence.
However, alliances can also make countries outside them feel excluded or threatened. When a powerful group forms, other nations may worry about their own safety and respond by building their own alliances or increasing military strength. This can raise tension and mistrust, sometimes leading to an arms race or deeper political divisions. In this way, alliances meant to create protection might unintentionally create fear or competition among countries that are not included.
Overall, military alliances are neither completely good nor completely harmful. They can make the world safer when they focus on cooperation, defense, and peaceful solutions, but they can also create risks if they increase rivalry or division. The key is how countries manage these alliances—whether they use them to promote peace and understanding or to compete for power.
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I think alliances make the world more dangerous. While they do make the world a bit safer due to the threat of attacking member states, they also create new threats by dividing the world into countries always ready for war as well escalate small local conflicts into global ones.
For example, the expansion of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). NATO was founded to 'keep the Soviets out, the Americans in, and the Germans down,'. However, the hypocrisy is palpable. Joseph Stalin was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize twice: once in 1945 and another time in 1948. The same Stalin who sent millions to the Gulags straight to their death, the same Stalin who ruled with an iron fist was nominated for an internationally recognized peace prize. The same Stalin that NATO would 'keep out'. NATO is funded a LOT by America, the same America which invaded Venezuela and kidnapped their president, Nicholas Maduro. While it could be argued that Venezuelans are 'happier' with the US since Maduro was corrupt, why doesn't the US do this with other countries? Is it a coincidence that Venezuela has the largest oil reserves in the world and that Trump said that Venezuela was a key drug exporter right before the invasion? There's also the fact that you cannot just break international law for what's 'right' because what's right is subjective AT BEST. Now, I ask you, have alliances actually made the world safer? Russia still invaded Ukraine. China still threatens Taiwan and North Korea still remains oppressed.
I believe alliances can make their members safer—but can also create new enemies and dangers for the world. Military alliances form when countries decide that cooperating would be safer than standing alone. However, some countries were forced into an alliance . For example, NATO was formed, mainly because the Western countries feared expansion by the Uni Soviet after WWII. Thus, the Soviet Union created an alliance, the Warsaw Pact, to attack them. Countries in the Warsaw Pact like Hungary, Czechoslovakia, East Germany, and Poland protested against Soviets control. Governments and populations were coerced, and when they tried to escape, heavy pressure and threats were used. This caused resentment against the Soviet Union. Suppressed resentment can cause sudden explosive conflict, bringing more danger and violence to the world. Alliances can also create a fear of encirclement. Fear of encirclement happens when a country is surrounded by rival states or alliances geographically/strategically. Another historical example is Germany during pre-WWI. By the early 19th century, Europe was divided into two major blocs. Germany feared France to the west, and Russia to the east. German leaders worried that if Russia grew stronger, they’d be trapped in between two powerful enemies. This led to the Schlieffen Plan (a strategy to defeat France before turning to Russia). This mindset grew from fear, and can cause deadly miscalculation. When countries fight imagined future threats, present wars happen. Therefore, alliances only defend borders, but sometimes divide the world.
Military alliances are created to protect the countries that belong to them. When nations agree to defend each other, it can discourage attacks because other countries know they would face a group, not just one state. For example, NATO was formed to provide collective defence, and many people believe it has helped prevent conflict between its members.
However, alliances can also create tension. Countries that are not included may feel excluded, surrounded, or threatened. This can push them to strengthen their own military or create rival alliances. During the Cold War, two opposing alliance systems faced each other, which increased fear and competition around the world.
Alliances can also make small conflicts bigger. If one member is attacked, others may be required to step in. This means a local issue could quickly grow into a wider international crisis.
In my opinion, military alliances can increase security for their members, but they do not always make the whole world safer. They can protect peace, but if not managed carefully, they can also create new dangers and mistrust.
Military alliances create new dangers, even if they are meant to provide protection.
They will instead, create more global tension by carving up the world into blocs and terrifying countries outside these groups. One clear example is the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. Nato bills itself as a defensive coalition underpinned by collective defence, but its enlargement through the 20th century, following decades of Cold War tension that has been seen by Russia as a security threat. Russian officials warned warned repeatedly that NATO coming closer to its borders would be a red line, reported by BBC News and The Economist. Right or wrong, that fear increased mistrust and was among the factors that inflamed tensions ahead of the 2022 invasion of Ukraine. History teaches us the same lesson during the Cold War, when NATO and the Warsaw Pact both constructed huge nuclear arsenals precisely because each side feared the other, and this arms race made the world more fragile.
A lot of people argue that alliances do make the world safer in a way, because it deters attacks and conflicts. There is some logic to the idea that collective defence can deter outright attacks, and many NATO members have not gone to war with each other. But deterrence is effective only within the alliance. Beyond it, countries may feel encircled and respond with militarisation or by allying themselves in rival camps. One side's security dilemma means the other's sense of protection is perceived as a threat.
For these reasons, I believe military alliances can create new enemies and raise global instability.
I think that military alliances can both help and harm tensions and our world. The thing with countries is that when one group or one singular country gains too much power, it influences other countries to start building up their military or power. This has happened in the past with the Warsaw pact where the alliance of the USSR and many other communist countries/states in order to antagonize NATO divided Europe. Another example is nuclear power. When the US developed the nuclear bomb, soon afterward in 1949 just a couple years after, the Soviet Union created their very own as well. Soon enough, other countries such as China, the UK, and France followed suit and developed nuclear bombs as well. It got to a point where countries had to sign the treaty on the non-proliferation of nuclear weapons, which essentially tried to stop the spreading of nukes. The threat of a huge group having so much power can trigger tensions, and threaten people on the outside, but there is another side to this.
According to NATO's official website, the goal of their organization is to protect their members from harm and to keep the citizens of their countries safe. Forming military alliances keeps your citizens safe, and because of the threat of the backlash, you will most likely stay safe. It create stability and supports progression since the countries involved will help each other out, and just creates a safer environment for us. Overall, military alliances have the power to both help our world, and also create tensions in it, but whether it does or doesn't is up to our world to decide.
Whether NATO creates new enemies is a matter of perspective. Critics argue that its expansion triggers a security dilemma, where an alliance's growth makes outsiders feel threatened, forcing them to react aggressively. In this view, NATO’s move toward Russia’s borders and its increasing focus on China effectively manufacture the very rivals the alliance claims to defend against.
Conversely, supporters argue that NATO is a defensive shield that countries voluntarily join to escape pre-existing threats. From this viewpoint, NATO doesn't create enemies; rather, the aggressive behavior of non-member states drives sovereign nations to seek protection. Whether the alliance is a provocateur or a protector depends entirely on whether you believe its growth is an act of encirclement or a necessary response to existing global instability.