A non-aggression pact or neutrality pact is a treaty between two or more states/countries that includes a promise by the signatories not to engage in military action against each other. Such treaties may be described by other names, such as a treaty of friendship<!--intentional link to DAB page--> or non-belligerency, etc. Leeds, Ritter, Mitchell, & Long (2002) distinguish between a non-aggression pact and a neutrality pact. They posit that a non-aggression pact includes the promise not to attack the other pact signatories, whereas a neutrality pact includes a promise to avoid support of any entity that acts against the interests of any of the pact signatories. The most readily recognized example of the aforementioned entity is another country, nation-state, or sovereign organization that represents a negative consequence towards the advantages held by one or more of the signatory parties. According to this data, 29 such pacts were recorded in the interwar period with spikes in occurrences in 1960, 1970, 1979, and especially the early 1990s where a number of Eastern European states signed pacts following the fall of the Soviet Union.
States with a history of rivalry tend to sign non-aggression pacts in order to prevent future conflict with one another. The pacts often facilitate information exchange which reduce uncertainty that might lead to conflict. Additionally, the pact signals to third party nations that the rivalry has reduced and that peaceful relations is desired.
|November 10, 1259 BCE
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|Delian League
|Peace of Callias
|c. 449 BCE
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|Byzantine–Venetian Treaty of 1268
|April 4, 1268
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|Byzantine–Venetian Treaty of 1277
|March 19, 1277
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|Byzantine–Venetian Treaty of 1285
|June 15, 1285
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|Byzantine–Venetian Treaty of 1390
|June 2, 1390
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| <br /> <br /> <br /> <br />|| Treaty of London|| October 3, 1518
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| <br /> || German–Soviet Neutrality and Nonaggression Pact|| April 24, 1926
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| <br /> || Soviet–Lithuanian Non-Aggression Pact|| September 28, 1926
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| <br />|| Greek–Romanian Non-Aggression and Arbitration Pact|| March 21, 1928
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| <br /> || Soviet–Afghan Non-Aggression Pact|| June 24, 1931
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| <br /> || Soviet–Finnish Non-Aggression Pact|| January 21, 1932
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| <br /> || Soviet–Latvian Non-Aggression Pact|| February 5, 1932
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| <br /> || Soviet–Estonian Non-Aggression Pact|| May 4, 1932
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| <br /> || Soviet–Polish Non-Aggression Pact|| July 25, 1932
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| <br /> || Soviet–French Non-Aggression Pact|| November 29, 1932
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| <br /> || Italo-Soviet Pact|| September 2, 1933
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| <br />|| Romanian–Turkish Non-Aggression Pact|| October 17, 1933
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| <br />|| Turkish–Yugoslav Non-Aggression Pact|| November 27, 1933
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| <br />|| German–Polish Declaration of Non-Aggression|| January 26, 1934
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| <br /> || Franco-Soviet Treaty of Mutual Assistance|| May 2, 1935
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| <br />|| Anti-Comintern Pact|| November 25, 1936
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| <br /> || Sino-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact|| August 21, 1937
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| <br /> <br /> <br />|| Treaty of Saadabad|| June 25, 1938
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| <br /> <br /> <br /> || Hungarian–Little Entente agreement|| August 22, 1938
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| <br />|| Franco–German Non-Aggression Pact || December 6, 1938
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|Iberian Pact
|March 17, 1939
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| <br />|| || May 31, 1939
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| <br />|| German–Estonian Non-Aggression Pact|| June 7, 1939
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| <br />|| German–Latvian Non-Aggression Pact|| June 7, 1939
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| <br /> || Franco-Thai Non-Aggression Pact|| June 12, 1940
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| <br /> || Hungarian–Yugoslav Non-Aggression Pact || December 12, 1940
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| <br /> || || April 6, 1941
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| <br /> || Soviet–Japanese Neutrality Pact || April 13, 1941
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| <br /> || German–Turkish Treaty of Friendship || June 18, 1941
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|Non-Aggression Pact of 1979
|October 14, 1979
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| <br /> || Nkomati Accord || March 13, 1984
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List of proposed non-aggression pacts
- Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan of Armenia proposed Azerbaijan to sign a non-aggression pact, along with a mutual arms control mechanism, in January 2024.
- The U.S. 28-point Ukraine plan to end the Russo-Ukrainian war included a nonaggression pact between Russia, Ukraine and the European Union.
- During the 2026 Iran war, Iran's former Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif proposed a "permanent nonaggression pact" with the United States.
Other usage
The term has colloquial usage outside the field of international relations. In the context of association football, the term can imply a deliberate lack of aggression between two teams, such as at the Disgrace of Gijón, which, in Germany, is known as the Nichtangriffspakt von Gijón (lit. "Non-aggression pact of Gijón"). A non-aggression pact can also be a formal agreement or gentlemen's agreement limiting transfers for players between two or more clubs.
See also
- Treaty of Friendship
- List of treaties
- Military alliance
- Peace treaty