Ondrej Rosendorf’s latest article in the Czech Journal of International Relations examines the rise of informal security cooperation and “strategic partnerships” as a foreign policy tool since the end of the Cold War. Here Ondrej identifies a research gap, which he attempts to fill with his quantitative study. Currently, he states, it is unclear if security concerns drive states to forge these partnerships and if their primary role is to substitute for or complement formal alliances. His analysis of a new dataset on strategic partnerships reveals that states are most likely to form partnerships when facing a common threat and not being members of the same alliance. However, states members of the same lower commitment alliance, such as consultation, neutrality or non-aggression pacts, are also likely to form partnerships when facing a common threat.
You can find the article „Alliance Complements or Substitutes? Explaining Bilateral Intergovernmental Strategic Partnership Ties” on the Czech Journal of International Relations website.
You can find a short twitter thread about the topic on Ondrej Rosendorf’s Twitter profile.