The national interest is a
sovereign state
A sovereign state is a State (polity), state that has the highest authority over a territory. It is commonly understood that Sovereignty#Sovereignty and independence, a sovereign state is independent. When referring to a specific polity, the ter ...
's goals and ambitions – be they economic, military, cultural, or otherwise – taken to be the aim of its
government
A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a State (polity), state.
In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive (government), execu ...
.
Etymology
The Italian phrase ''ragione degli stati'' was first used by
Giovanni della Casa around the year 1547.
The expression "reason of state" (Ragion di Stato) was formulated in 1580, found in the works of Giovanni Botero, who was influenced by, and wrote criticisms of the Italian diplomat and political thinker Niccolò Machiavelli, popularly known as the author of The Prince and The Discourses on Livy.
Prominently, Chief Minister
Cardinal Richelieu justified France's intervention on the
Protestant
Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that emphasizes Justification (theology), justification of sinners Sola fide, through faith alone, the teaching that Salvation in Christianity, salvation comes by unmerited Grace in Christianity, divin ...
side, despite its own
Catholicism
The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...
, in the
Thirty Years' War
The Thirty Years' War, fought primarily in Central Europe between 1618 and 1648, was one of the most destructive conflicts in History of Europe, European history. An estimated 4.5 to 8 million soldiers and civilians died from battle, famine ...
(1618-48) as being in the national interest in order to block the increasing power of the Catholic
Holy Roman Emperor
The Holy Roman Emperor, originally and officially the Emperor of the Romans (disambiguation), Emperor of the Romans (; ) during the Middle Ages, and also known as the Roman-German Emperor since the early modern period (; ), was the ruler and h ...
. At Richelieu's prompting,
Jean de Silhon defended the concept of ''raison d'État'' as "a mean between what conscience permits and affairs require."
[Thuau, E. 1996. ''Raison d'État et Pensée Politique a l'époque de Richelieu.'' Paris: Armand Colin.]
Usage
Within the field of
international relations
International relations (IR, and also referred to as international studies, international politics, or international affairs) is an academic discipline. In a broader sense, the study of IR, in addition to multilateral relations, concerns al ...
, national interest has frequently been assumed to comprise the pursuit of power, security and wealth.
Neorealist and liberal institutionalist scholars tend to define national interest as revolving around security and power. Liberal scholars view national interests as an aggregation of the preferences of domestic political groups. Constructivist scholars reject that the national interest of states are static and can be assumed ''a priori''; rather, they argue that the preferences of states are shaped through social interactions and are changeable.
In a February 2020 article for
CSIS,
Gordon de Brouwer argued: "The national interest has three components—security, prosperity, and social wellbeing—and they should all be part of framing the problem and solutions. All three matter. More than ever, they reinforce each other. Security underpins prosperity, prosperity creates power and pays for security, and a well-functioning society reduces economic and security risks."
See also
*
Common good
In philosophy, Common good (economics), economics, and political science, the common good (also commonwealth, common weal, general welfare, or public benefit) is either what is shared and beneficial for all or most members of a given community, o ...
*
Nation state
A nation state, or nation-state, is a political entity in which the State (polity), state (a centralized political organization ruling over a population within a territory) and the nation (a community based on a common identity) are (broadly ...
*
Public interest
*
Realpolitik
*
Realism (international relations)
Realism, in international relations theory, is a Theory, theoretical framework that views world politics as an enduring competition among self-interested State (polity), states vying for power and positioning within an Anarchy (international re ...
*
Self-interest
*
Moral nihilism
References
Further reading
* Beard, Charles A. 1934. ''The Idea of National Interest.''
Macmillan.
* Burchill, Scott. 2005. ''The National Interest in International Relations Theory.''
Palgrave Macmillan
Palgrave Macmillan is a British academic and trade publishing company headquartered in the London Borough of Camden. Its programme includes textbooks, journals, monographs, professional and reference works in print and online. It maintains offi ...
.
* Frankel, Joseph. 1970. ''National Interest.'' London: Pall Mall.
* Hu, Shaohua. 2016. "A Framework for analysis of national interest: United States policy toward Taiwan." ''Contemporary Security Policy'' 37(1):144–167.
*
Nuechterlein, Donald. 1976. "National interests and foreign policy: A conceptual framework for analysis and decision-making." ''
British Journal of International Studies'' 2(3): 246–266.
* Rosenau, James. 1968. "National Interest." pp. 34–40 in ''International Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences'' 2(1), edited by D. L. Sills and R. K. Merton. New York:
Macmillan/Free Press.
* Troianiello, Antonino. 1999. ''Raison d’État et droit public'', Thesis paper,
Université du Havre, 748 pages.
{{Authority control
Political realism
International relations
State ideologies