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International Relations & Diplomacy vocabulary · Foreign Policy & the State

National interest

Meaning in international relations & diplomacy, with examples

nounCore term

In international relations & diplomacy, national interest means: What a government sees as most important for its country's security, prosperity and values, used to explain and justify foreign policy choices.

In Turkish: ulusal çıkar, milli menfaat

How it is used

Used by officials ('this is in our national interest') and by realist theorists, for whom states act mainly to protect it. Often plural: 'vital national interests'. The concept is debated because deciding who defines it is itself political.

Example sentences

  1. The minister said the deal was clearly in the national interest.

  2. Realists argue that states always act according to their national interest.

  3. The report asks how the national interest should be defined in a changing world.

Common collocations

  • in the national interest
  • vital national interests
  • protect the national interest
  • define the national interest
  • foreign policyA government's goals and strategies for dealing with other countries and international organisations, and the decisions it takes to pursue them.
  • realismA major theory of international relations holding that states are the main actors, that they pursue power and security in an anarchic system, and that conflict is always possible.
  • sovereigntyThe full right and power of a state to govern its own territory and people without outside interference; a basic principle of the modern international system.
  • balance of powerA situation in which power is spread among states so that no single state or group can dominate the others; also the idea that states act to create such a balance.

More terms: Foreign Policy & the State

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