National Interest: From Abstraction to Strategy

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. Philosophical Background"National interest" traces its roots at least back to the pessimistic realism of Machiavelli in the 15th century.[1]As such, it represents a repudiation of earlier Western sources in Hellenic idealism, Judeo-Christian biblical morality, and the teachings of medieval churchmen such as Thomas Aquinas.You may have splendid moral goals, argued Machiavelli, but without sufficient power and the willingness to use it, you will accomplish nothing.Machiavelli's overriding aim: Italian unification and liberation from foreign occupiers.Nothing could be more moral than the interest of the Italian state; accordingly, seemingly immoral ends could be employed for its attainment.Power rather than morality is the crux of this school.A lack of interest also can be warping.If left to itself, some analysts believe, US mass opinion tends toward isolationism; that is, it sees no important national interests anywhere.Americans are especially indifferent to Latin America, which is seen as having no influence on the United States except as a source of drugs and illegal immigrants.Americans mistakenly but deeply believe there are few US national interests there.Elites--the top or most influential people--pay far more attention to foreign affairs than the public at large; therefore