Question

What is “collective defense?” If, when and how do you believe "collective defense" should be used?

Answer 1

Collective defense is a phenomenon, agreement or strategy that says that if one partner of the group is attacked, then all other partner members of the group is attacked and all members of the group should defend collectively and save the partner member that is particularly attacked. Collective defense is particularly used in an international political scenario where the organization of the countries works together and implement collective defense. For example, NATO has the agreement of collective defense and it is specifically mentioned in the article 5 of the Washington treaty.

If collective defense is to be used, then it should be justified and scenario should be evaluated before its use so that it is justified properly. For example, if North Korea invades the South Korea and it is due to the ill intentions of the North Korea with any provocation from the side of South Korea, then the USA and other allies, should implement collective defense to help South Korea. Before that, North Korea should also be warned against it and told regarding the strong repercussions if collective defense measures are taken. So, the first step should be to use dialogue and if it does not work, then the collective defense should be used.