The Difference Between Military Defence Treaty versus Military Support Treaty versus Military Cooperation
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It was Published on 30 April 2024 on Section B2. in 2024 Global Survival Rank by Dr. Ziva Rozen-Bakher http://www.rozen-bakher.com/global-survival-rank-zrb/2024
Monitoring Alliances by Dr. Ziva Rozen-Bakher
Monitoring Military, Political, Economic and Trade Alliances that Have an Impact on Global Order and Geopolitics
Monitoring Alliances by Dr. Ziva Rozen-Bakher https://www.rozen-bakher.com/monitoring-alliances
Dr. Ziva Rozen-Bakher
A Researcher in International Relations with a Focus on Security, Political and Economic Risks for Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) and International Trade
For the Differences Between Military Defence Treaty versus Military Support Treaty versus Military Cooperation:
The Difference Between Military Defence Treaty versus Military Support Treaty versus Military Cooperation https://www.rozen-bakher.com/alliances/military
The Importance of Political, Economic, and Trade Alliances:
Rozen-Bakher, Z. (2021). Restrictions on International Trade and Foreign Direct Investment (FDI): Nationalism-Mercantilism versus Trade Liberalism. Research Paper, PD9. https://www.rozen-bakher.com/research-papers/pd9
Rozen-Bakher, Z. (2021). The Chess Game of Forming International Trade Agreements: Shaping Global Economic and Political Power. Research Paper, PD10. https://www.rozen-bakher.com/research-papers/pd10
Rozen-Bakher, Z. (2021). Is the World Trade Organization (WTO) has a Future under the Mechanism of Consensus in Decision-Making?: A New Framework for Achieving Successful Rounds. Research Paper, PD11. https://www.rozen-bakher.com/research-papers/pd11
The Difference Between Military Defence Treaty versus Military Support Treaty versus Military Cooperation
It was Published on 30 April 2024 on Section B2. in 2024 Global Survival Rank by Dr. Ziva Rozen-Bakher http://www.rozen-bakher.com/global-survival-rank-zrb/2024
B2. Military Defence Treaty versus Military Support Treaty versus Military Cooperation
There is a critical difference between a Military Defence Treaty versus a Military Support Treaty versus a Military Cooperation, as presented in this section.
B2.1 Basic Key Definitions
B2.1.1 Multilateral Military Treaty versus Bilateral Military Treaty
A Multilateral Military Treaty includes more than two countries (e.g. NATO), while a Bilateral Military Treaty includes only two countries (e.g. China-North Korea Treaty).
B2.1.2 Treaty with Equal Commitment to Defend (Two-Directions) versus Treaty with Non-Equal Commitment to Defend (One-Direction)
An Equal Treaty (Two-Directions) refers to a Treaty that both sides commit to Defend in the case of an attack (e.g. USA-Canada Treaty), while a Non-Equal Treaty (One-Direction) refers to a Treaty that a Strong Country has the commitment to Defend its Weak Ally, while the Weak Ally has no commitment to defend the Strong Country, such as the China-Solomon Islands Security Pact or the USA-Japan Treaty.
B2.1.3 Active Military Treaty versus Inactive Military Treaty
Many old Military Treaties, either Military Defence Treaties or Military Support Treaties, are de-facto Not Active, mainly due to transformation in the regime, political circumstances, geopolitics, and global order, such as new leaders that oppose treaties that were signed by former leaders or due to collaboration with New Allies that are considered as Rivals to the treaty. The Military Defence Treaty, Rio Pact, that was signed in 1947 and currently covers the USA and 17 countries from Latin-America is a good example of how a treaty over the years becomes de-facto to Not Active Treaty namely, there are no Yearly Summits, No Joint-Drills, the Alliance has No Active Headquarter, and importantly, over the years, many members have distanced themselves from the treaty, so if for example will erupt a war between the USA and Russia, then unlikely that Brazil and Venezuela will be involved in a war against Russia to protect the USA, despite that Brazil and Venezuela are formally members of the Rio Pact.
B2.2 Military Defence Treaty
A Military Defence Treaty includes the Crucial Commitment to Defend in the Case of Attack, namely an attack against one member of the treaty will be considered as an attack against all members of the treaty, resulting in a situation in which all the members of the treaty will join the war to defend the member that suffers from the attack. However, there are Military Defence Treaties with a ‘Hard Definition’ regarding the Commitment to defend in the case of attack, such as NATO and CSTO, while there are Military Defence Treaties with a ‘Mid-Definition’ or even with a ‘Soft Definition’ about the Commitment to defend in the case of attack, still, in all Definitions, the outcome is clear, there is a Commitment to defend in the case of an attack, which is on opposite to other Military Treaties that lack any commitment to defend in the case of an attack as the Military Support Treaties.
B2.3 Military Support Treaty
A Military Support Treaty aims to give a support and a Military Aid in the Case of an Attack, but without the commitment to defend in the case of attack, so the country needs to fight alone with its army, yet the country is supposed to get a Military Aid from the country that is party to the Military Support Treaty, such as the Bilateral Military Support Treaty between the USA and Israel in which Israel should defend its soil by its army, yet the USA has the commitment to give a Military Aid to Israel to handle the war (US military aid to Israel under scrutiny as Biden signs $26 billion in new assistance, Voice of America, April 24, 2024). Note, the USA indirectly defended Israel when Iran attacked Israel, which was done from the Jordan territory because the USA has Military bases in Jordan. That was done based on the general principle that if a country has Military bases abroad, then it gives the legitimation to protect the soil of the host country or the military bases itself. Hence, usually, Military Support Treaties are Bilateral Treaties, rather than Multilateral Treaties, such as the numerous Bilateral Military Support Treaties that the USA has with its Allies, either active ones or not. Nevertheless, under a Military Support Treaty, it is possible that Ad-hoc Defence will be given under an attack, but there is no commitment to do it like in the case of a Military Defence Treaty. Importantly, in a Military Support Treaty, there is no definition for how much Military Aid will be given in the case of an attack or ongoing war, which usually depends on the economic and political circumstances, such as in the case of the USA that any Military Aid should be approved by the USA Congress and Senate, which depends on the USA’s internal political-fight between Republicans and Democrats like the problems that occurred for the Biden Administration to get the latest approval from the USA Congress and the Senate for more a Military Aid to Ukraine, which was dragged over more than 6 months until its approval.
B2.4 Military Cooperation
B2.4.1 Military Cooperation Under Multilateral Trade/Economic/Political Alliances
Many Trade Alliances or Economic Alliances or Political Alliances have a Formal Military Cooperation, such as Security Summits, Joint Training, and Joint Drills as in the case of SCO and BRICS.
B2.4.2 Joint-Intelligence Multilateral Alliance
There are Military Intelligence Treaties that focus on Joint-Intelligence in terms of sharing Intelligence or Intelligence Joint Operations, such as in the case of the ‘Five Eyes Treaty’ that includes Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the UK, and the USA.
B2.4.3 Ad-hoc Military Coalition
Many times, several allies form an Ad-hoc Coalition to carry out a specific military task, such as the Coalitions that were formed to fight against Islamic State as the example of the Coalition 4+1 that includes 4 countries Russia–Syria–Iran–Iraq and plus 1, the Hezbollah.
B2.4.4 Presence of Military Bases in Foreign Countries
The presence of overseas Military Bases exists either under Military Defence Treaties as the USA Military Bases in European NATO members based on the NATO Treaty or under military base agreements without a Military Defence Treaty with the aim of giving Military Access to Strategic Locations, such as in the case of the USA Military bases in Jordan that were recently used for intercepting Iranian Drones and Missiles during the Iran Attack against Israel. However, traditionally, many Colonies in the past and even today, serve for the Sovereign State as a ‘Military Point’ in strategic locations, such as in the case of the UK Colonies: Akrotiri and Dhekelia in Cyprus, which are used as Military Bases for the UK in the island of Cyprus or as in the case of the UK Colony, the British Indian Ocean Territory, which its main island, Diego Garcia, serves as a Joint Military Base for UK and USA. Nevertheless, the desire to get Military Access in Strategic Locations worldwide has led to a trend of 'Rental land for Military Bases’ without any Military Cooperation with the ‘Landlord of the Land’, which is usually the public land of a certain country, such as in the case of several foreign military bases in Djibouti that run under a High-Cost Rental Contract of Land for Military Bases, yet without any Military Cooperation with Djibouti as in the case of the Military Base of China in Djibouti. Note, Djibouti has become an attractive location for foreign Military Bases because of its strategic location at the entrance of the Red Sea.
B2.4.5 Joint Military Drills
Joint Military Drills allow getting ready for an attack scenario by a third party. Joint Military Drills run frequently under Military Defence Treaties as in the case of CSTO or under Military Support Treaties, but they also run under Alliances with Military Cooperation as in the case of BRICS. However, Joint Military Drills can take place without any Alliance but only based on Military Cooperation between two countries or a small group of countries that have similar interests, such as in the case of the joint Military Drills by China and Iran or by Russia and Iran, which started several years before the joining of Iran to the SCO and BRICS.
B2.4.6 Selling Weapons and Military Training
Selling Weapons and Providing Military Training can be carried out between governments without any Treaty or Alliance but only based on minimal Military Cooperation, such as the export of weapons to countries that have diplomatic relations with the country that exports the weapons, still, keep in mind, that weapons dealers also engage in selling weapons to foreign countries without any Military Cooperation but only based on creating profits, which explained, for example, how African Military Regimes buy weapons in the global market, despite the Arms Embargo on them.
