Abstract
This chapter draws a parallel between past defense pacts and a possible future planetary defense treaty regulating NEO deflection. Drafting a planetary defense treaty is compared to creating a defense pact.
The data concerning the defense pacts offer insights in regard to the following questions: firstly, when it is the right time to establish legal framework for international cooperation; secondly, how to ensure that all the participating nations will contribute the same efforts and resources to the common defense project, thirdly how the decision making should be regulated; and fourthly, how to safeguard that the outcomes of the project, e.g. in form of advanced military technology, shall not be misused for the benefit of leading nation(s) and for the detriment of others. The chapter quantitatively investigates selected defense pacts concluded among nations between 1815 and 2003, and qualitatively examines five current defense pacts.
It firstly evaluates the correlation between threat proximity and pact conclusion. Secondly, the chapter inquires what an actual wording of 5 current pacts is, i.e. whether it intends to prescribe same contributions of participants (free-riding prevention), whether it prohibits misusing of the cooperation (abuse prevention) and how it regulates common capabilities development and decision making.