Non-aggression Pact Overview

A non-aggression pact is a common form of pact which normally is put into place between two different sovereign states in order to prevent either one from exhibiting any kind of aggressive behavior towards the other. A non-aggression pact thus might be known as a peace pact because it would involve the preservation of peace between the two involved parties.

Furthermore, a non-aggression pact would often include a clause which dictates that the two involved parties agree to solve any problems and disputes they might have with one another through peaceful diplomacy. It might further outline exactly the way in which to proceed with doing so, thus making them even more in line with the notion of a peace pact.

A non-aggression pact is importantly differentiated from an outright peace pact, however, in that the parties of a non-aggression pact are agreeing only not to engage each other in aggressive behavior and are not agreeing to be entirely peaceful. This means that the parties involved in a non-aggression pact might even theoretically attack each other’s allies. The non-aggression pact would mean that they were still not at war with each other. This is an important point to recognize in terms of differentiating a non-aggression pact from an out and out peace pact.

Non-aggression pacts are not often used in the modern world, primarily because they are not necessarily as binding as the participating countries might have hoped, as was evidenced by Nazi Germany’s violation of its non-aggression pact with the Soviet Union. More often now, security partnerships are used in which the member states agree to defend each other for the sake of greater overall security.

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