Bloc

A bloc is a group of individuals, parties, organizations, or states that share common interests and act as a collective unit in pursuit of those interests.

In politics, blocs denote parliamentary or political groupings formed to coordinate strategy, voting, and policy positions. They can be formal coalitions or informal alignments and may endure beyond elections or be temporary during a legislative session. Examples include party blocs within legislatures and voting blocs that consistently support or oppose particular measures.

In international economics, trading blocs are groups of countries that reduce or eliminate barriers to trade and coordinate economic policy. They range from free-trade areas to customs unions, common markets, and economic unions. Notable blocs include the European Union, the USMCA region, ASEAN, and Mercosur.

Historically, the term has described large geopolitical alignments such as the Eastern Bloc and Western Bloc during the Cold War. The term also appears in other contexts, including protest movements (for example, the Black Bloc) and, in computing, as a general term for a block of data; however, these uses are distinct from the political and economic sense.