Do international alliances always make the world safer, or can they sometimes lead to more tension?

Alliances are supposed to make the world safer. However, from this standpoint, I will address the contrary. Military alliances like NATO and BRICS are supposed to make the world safer, but most of the time, they do the opposite. People say alliances keep peace and protect countries from attacks, but the truth is that when some nations come together, it makes everyone else nervous, as they feel excluded. Instead of stabilizing the world like they're supposed to, alliances often make it more divided and more likely to fight.

For instance, take NATO after the Cold War with the USSR. The alliance says it was defensive and focused on protecting its members from “outside threats”. But when it expanded east to include countries that were once under Soviet influence, like Ukraine and Finland, Russia didn’t see it that way. Russia saw it as being surrounded and threatened. That difference in how the same actions were understood caused real tension, which was a real reason that led to this war against Ukraine in the present time. NATO was supposed to be about security, but from Russia’s pov, it felt aggressive and not defensive whatsoever. This is what I think happens with alliances. Fundamentally, what protects one side can scare the other just as much, causing tension and breaking previously made relations.

It isn’t just NATO. Countries that aren’t in the alliance often react by building more weapons, forming their own groups, preparing for attacks, and much, much more. As I’ve stated before, one big problem is that what is meant to keep members safe often looks like a threat to outsiders. Small moves such as trade, relations with others, or even saying something, can be misread, and small misunderstandings can turn into big conflicts like wars that affect millions of people.

In summary, alliances can make members feel safe, but they also make the world riskier. A lot riskier. They split the world into divisions, which can potentially make countries suspicious of each other and increase the chances of arms races and wars that are simply not necessary. They do not prevent conflict!! Instead, peace depends on keeping rival groups balanced, which is always fragile in a sense. Alliances promise protection, but they also come with hidden dangers that we can’t control. The more countries rely on blocs, the more likely the world becomes tense, divided, and unstable.