Just as multilateralism is on the decline, the world is witnessing the emergence of fresh alliances and the formation of new blocs between countries with converging economic and strategic interests. Traditional multilateralism seems to be fading, whereas new ‘minilateralism’ is on the rise, as can be seen with the formation of new alliances in the shape of quads such as the newly established Quadrilateral Alliance between India, Israel, United Arab Emirates and United States in October 2021.[1] The first in the pursuit of such alliances was the QUAD inked in 2007 between the US, Australia, Japan and India, which was aimed at countering China’s growing influence in the Indo-Pacific, with India and the US as its most active players. Similarly, AUKUS signed in September 2021, an alliance announced as a historic security pact in the Asia-Pacific between the United Kingdom, US and Australia, which will cover Artificial Intelligence (AI) and other technologies, is regarded as one of the biggest defense partnerships in decades in an alleged effort to counter China.[2]
