Around the world, countries form alliances to strengthen their defences or to enable trade growth. A recent alliance in the news was AUKUS, which also got mired in controversy as France got its deal cancelled with Australia abruptly. In that light, here are some of the popular alliances of different countries formed under different circumstances.
Crux of the Matter
NATO
Name: North Atlantic Treaty Organization.
Number of countries: 29 (including US, Canada, UK etc).
Formed in: 1949.
NATO is a military alliance formed as a counter to Soviet army, with the basic idea that an armed attack on one member means an attack on all of them. The first and the only time the mutual defense clause was invoked was after the 9/11 attacks in the US.
BRICS
It is an abbreviation for Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.
Number of countries: 5.
Formed in: 2001 (without South Africa).
BRICS started off with the notion that the economies of these 5 countries would dominate global growth by 2050.
Five Eyes
Number of countries: 5 (Australia, UK, US, Canada and New Zealand).
Formed in: 1946.
It is an alliance for intelligence sharing formed after World War 2 as the Cold War started to intensify.
OIC
Name: Organization of Islamic Cooperation.
Number of countries: 56 (including Afghanistan, UAE etc).
Formed in: 1969.
It aims at promoting Islamic solidarity, and has introduced projects like International Islamic News Agency, and Islamic Solidarity Fund.
OPEC
Name: Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries.
Number of countries: 13 including Kuwait, Nigeria etc.
Formed in: 1960.
OPEC is a cartel aiming to manage oil supply and set oil prices globally, currently adapting through a coalition with Russia and other countries. In 1973, OPEC had banned oil exports to US as it backed Israel in its war with Syria. Since then, OPEC has had a rocky relationship with the US.
ASEAN
Name: Association of Southeast Asian Nations.
Number of countries: 10, including Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand etc.
Formed in: 1967.
Its purpose is to promote economic growth and trade amongst these countries.
AUKUS
Name: Abbreviation for Australia, UK and US.
Number of countries: 3.
Formed in: 2021.
It recently began with Australia receiving nuclear-powered submarines from US and UK.
Curiopedia
More recently, the term "Allied forces" has also been used to describe the coalition of the Gulf War. Multi-National Forces in Iraq are commonly referred to as "Coalition forces" or, as by the George W Bush administration, "the coalition of the willing".