THE drastic shifts in the security architecture of the Middle East, particularly the outbreak of Israel-Iran-US war, October 7, and diminishing credibility of United States’ role as the sole guarantor of security has opened new avenues for reorienting the regions defense infrastructure. The realignment provides greater autonomy to the regional powers in ensuring means of their security. In this regard, the Makkah Alliance, a trilateral defense pact, builds on the principle of pragmatism to enhance collective deterrence, build the capacity of its three signatories and enable them to strengthen their security infrastructure with the sole purpose of preventing a security vacuum and preventing the region from falling into perpetual chaos.

Alliances like Makkah are not new. Most states around the world have been signatories to such agreements and pacts. The idea of defense and security pact has been a part and parcel of international politics. The signing ensures collective response to common adversaries and perceived common threats. Since the outbreak of Russia-Ukraine War, the need of the time is to reorient defense pacts from purely military (hard power). This implies that in order to build credibility of such pacts there must be shared understanding of security challenges. This approach is further strengthened by the balance of interests’ theory. The theory suggests that the alliance is more effective when the interests of signatories continue to converge. This........

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