Executive summary
Alliance structures in the world’s key strategic regions are changing. One feature notable in many regions is a shift towards minilateralism: small international groups assembled to achieve limited if significant strategic objectives, as opposed to broader, larger or more formal bilateral or multilateral alliances or institutions.

A major driver of this trend is the increasing assertiveness of ‘challenger states’ such as China, Iran, Russia and Turkey, whose strategic behaviour is insufficiently deterred or contained by existing larger alliance or security relationships, prompting the perception that increased strategic agility is required, perhaps through ‘special purpose strategic vehicles’.