Definition and meaning of alliance

An alliance is an agreement or friendship between two or more parties, made in order to advance common goals and to secure common interests.

See also military alliance and business alliance.

  Examples of alliances

  International relations

In international relations, the Anglo-Portuguese Alliance, signed in 1373 between the Kingdom of England (succeeded by the United Kingdom) and Portugal, is the oldest alliance in the world which is still in force.

• Holy Alliance, coalition of Russia, Austria and Prussia created in 1815
• Quadruple Alliance
• Triple Alliance (disambiguation)
• North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), a military alliance established by the signing of the North Atlantic Treaty

  Political organizations

• Alberta Alliance Party, a small right-wing political party in Alberta, Canada that existed from 2002 until merging to form the Wildrose Alliance Party in 2008 (see below)
• Social Democratic Alliance, political party in Iceland
• Alliance (New Zealand), left-wing political party in New Zealand
• Alliance 90, an alliance of three opposition groups in East Germany
• Alliance for Chile, a political coalition that includes Chiles two rightwing parties RN and UDI
• Alliance (Sweden), an electoral and governing (since September 2006) political coalition between the Moderate Party, Centre Party, Liberal People's Party and Christian Democrats
• Alliance Party of Northern Ireland, political party operating in Northern Ireland
• Canadian Alliance, Canadian right-of-centre conservative political party that existed from 2000 to 2003
• Fijian Alliance, a former political party in Fiji
• International Alliance of Socialist Democracy, an organization founded by Mikhail Bakunin
• Melanesian Alliance Party, a political party in Papua New Guinea
• People's Alliance for Democracy, a long-term protest movement in Thailand which is opposed to former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra and his supporters
• ProLife Alliance, a political party in the United Kingdom
• SDP-Liberal Alliance, electoral alliance of the Social Democratic Party and the Liberal Party in the United Kingdom that operated from 1981 to 1988
• The Alliance Party (Malaya), the predecessor of the Barisan Nasional political coalition in Malaysia
• The Alliance (Hong Kong), former name of Professional Forum, political group in Hong Kong
• Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements in China, an organisation in Hong Kong which supports democratic movements in China
• Tongmenghui (or "Revolutionary Alliance"), a Chinese underground resistance movement which operated in Japan from 1905 to 1950
• United Iraqi Alliance, a political coalition in Iraq
• United People Alliance, electoral and political coalition between the Portuguese Communist Party or PCP and the Portuguese Democratic Movement or MDP
• National Alliance (disambiguation), several political parties
• National Democratic Alliance (disambiguation), several political parties
• New Alliance Party (disambiguation), several political parties
• Wildrose Alliance Party, a small right-wing political party in Alberta, Canada
• Liberal Alliance (disambiguation), several political parties
• The Alliance short for Republican, Ecologist and Social Alliance (ARES) is a federation of centrist political parties in France.

  Television, film, and comic books

• The Alliance, a group of aliens and monsters in the Doctor Who episode 'The Pandorica Opens'
• Alliance of Twelve from the Alias TV series
• Alliance (DC Comics), an organization of alien freedom fighters from the pages of DC Comics
• Anglo-Sino Alliance, powerful government and law-enforcement organization that controls a large sector of colonized "core planets" in the Firefly television series
• Earth Alliance (Babylon 5), fictional alliance of the countries of Earth in the television series Babylon 5
• Ferengi Alliance, fictional extraterrestrial race from the Star Trek universe
• Rebel Alliance, interstellar political resistance force formed in direct military opposition to the Galactic Empire in the fictional Star Wars universe
• The Alliance (The Office episode), an episode of the television series The Office
• The Alliance (professional wrestling), professional wrestling faction which ostensibly consisted of World Championship Wrestling and Extreme Championship Wrestling
• Alliance to End Hulkamania, professional wrestling stable in World Championship Wrestling
• Alliance Films, motion picture distribution/production company, which serves Canada, the United Kingdom, and Spain.

  Video games

• The Alliance, a military, cultural, and economic alliance between various races in the Warcraft series of video games
• The Alliance of Order in Warhammer, an alliance of Humans, Elves and Dwarves to counter the Forces of Destruction
• Systems Alliance, the representative body of humanity in the Mass Effect series
• In Marvel: Ultimate Alliance, the titular Alliance refers to a coalition of heroes that normally work independently of one another, or in separate units.

  Business

• Airline alliance, an agreement between two or more airlines to cooperate on a substantial level. The three largest passenger alliances are the Star Alliance, SkyTeam and Oneworld.

  Literature

• Burk, Kathleen and Melvyn Stokes (eds.): The United States and the European Alliance since 1945 (Oxford: Berg, 1999).
• Heuser, Beatrice, "Alliances Bedevilled by History: Franks, Germanics and Anglo-Saxons in the Cold War", in Luciano Tosi (ed): Europe, its Borders and the Others (Naples: Edizione Scientifiche Italiane, 2000), pp.313-349.
• Hunt, Peter: War, Peace, and Alliance in Demostenes' Athens (Cambridge University Press, 2010)
• O'Neill, Robert, Alliances and International Order (1988)
• Phillips, Charles and Alan Axelrod (ed), Encyclopedia of historical treaties and alliances. Vol. 1, From ancient times to World War I (Chicago & London: Fitzroy Dearborn, 2001)
• Strategies Alliances and Military Power: Changing Roles". With contributions by the Faculty and Staff of the Strategic Studies Institute at the United States Army War College, Carlislse Barracks, Pennsylvania, USA (Leyden: Sijthoff, 1977)
• Weitsman, Patricia A., Dangerous Alliances: Proponents of Peace, Weapons of War (Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 2004)