3.1 Introduction

The concept of zones of economic collaboration at the state level is a relatively recent phenomenon. It began with the vice of the modern national state, and the further deepening of its control over economic life through its capacity to regulate a burgeoning corporate sector, from the middle of the twentieth century. We mention this with reference to our previous chapter on economic zoning. This prefatory note is to distinguish the history of global economic zoning from the history of global politico-military zoning, which has been a practice through the millennia. The Greek and Roman, Persian, Indian and Chines histories inform us in great detail about the process of coalition-building and breaking during the course of their stories of war and peace. In the textbook teaching of International Relations, we teach this subject through Thycidedus for Eurasia, Sum-Zu for China and less frequently, Chankya-Kautiliya for the Indian Sub-continent.

The question arises: Have there been certain new features to this age-old practice of politico-military alliances of rival Kingdoms and empires? The big change is indeed the formalization and institutionalization of politico-military alliances. In the post-second war period, the United States established the SEATO, Southeast Asia treaty over the organization, and soon thereafter the central treaty organization (CENTO). The two together covered vast areas of Asia. Earlier the USA had established the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), an organization that turned out to be more resilient than any other in the comparable league. In the cold war competition of the times, the Soviet Union established a competing organization known as the name of Warsaw Pact. It collapsed with the dismemberment of the Soviet Union in 1991.

At present NATO remains to be the most relevant in what we have turned into a politico-military space comparable to the various organization in the economic sphere. The Global Barometer data at present is restricted to NATO. We may be able to supplement it with other organizations, should there be enough relevance and merit to including them.