Transforming Military Alliances into Progressive Partnerships

The US global alliance system provides a venue for international coordination on shared priorities, and seeks to create win-win solutions to security challenges. In its current form, however, it entrenches an exclusionary and hierarchical approach to international relations, has enabled US allies’ harmful behavior, and poses destabilizing security threats to non-allied states. The United States should seek to reshape its military alliances into progressive partnerships, with the goal of working together to solve current and future global challenges like climate change, economic inequality, endemic corruption, and the nuclear arms race.

The United States should:

• Primarily engage its allies with the goal of collectively solving global challenges. For example, the United States is uniquely positioned to take the lead on kickstarting a global Green New Deal, multilateral arms control, or a global anti-poverty campaign.

• Never offer a blank check to its allies. Alliances should be viewed as true partnerships, not necessarily security guarantees. The United States lends a portion of its legitimacy to its allies, and therefore these allies should exemplify behavior in line with aspirational US values.

• Maintain consistent dialogue with US allies, and avoid making unilateral decisions that will impact those allies without their consent.

• Recognize that alliances can pose valid security threats to competing states, and therefore take steps to reduce the direct and perceived threats to competitors that feed counterproductive dynamics, such as arms races and conflict escalation.