National Interest
From Abstraction to Strategy
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 20138430 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Michael Roskin (corresponding author), Michael G Roskin |
| Year | 1994 |
| Volume | 24 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Publication date | 1994-07-04 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | The US Army War College Quarterly Parameters (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0031-1723 • E-ISSN: 0031-1723 |
| Publisher | United States Army War College Press (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.55540/0031-1723.1715 |
| OpenAlex | W325066031 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 4 |
| References cited | 4 |
We have no eternal allies and we have no perpetual enemies.Our interests are eternal and perpetual, and those interests it is our duty to follow."---Lord Palmerston, 1848The student new to international relations is often at first intoxicated by the concept of "national interest."It seems crisp, clear, objective: what's good for the nation as a whole in international affairs.(What's good for the nation as a whole in domestic affairs is the public interest.)National interest lies at the very heart of the military and diplomatic professions and leads to the formulation of a national strategy and the calculation of the power necessary to support that strategy.Upon reflection, however, one comes to realize how hard it is to turn concepts of national interest into working strategy.It requires one to perceive the world with undistorted clarity and even to anticipate the second-and thirdorder effects of policies.Few are so gifted.Instead of bringing clarity and cohesion, many quarrel over what the national interest is in any given situation.This essay will argue that the concept of national interest still has utility, not as an objective fact but as a philosophical argument in favor of limiting the number of crusades a country may be inclined to undertake
Abstraction · Computer security · Epistemology · Law and economics · National interest · Political science · Politics · Sociology · Computer Science · International Relations and Foreign Policy · Law · Military History and Strategy · Philosophy · Politics and Conflicts in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Middle East
| Unique citing works | 4 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 0,24 |
| Citation span | 2009 - 2025 (17) |
| Citation velocity | recent |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 4 |