National Interests and Foreign Policy: On the National Pursuit of Material Interests

Abstract

Knudsen, O. National Interests and Foreign Policy: On the National Pursuit of Material Interests. Cooperation and Conflict, XIV, 1979, 11-19.

The classical concept of 'the national interest' is not at issue here. Rather, an attempt is made to systematize some quite simple and familiar ideas about 'what is to the material advantage' of a state in given situations of choice. The basic argument is that most current explanations of foreign-policy activity stress bureaucratic/administrative factors and overlook the possible significance of the material benefits at stake. 'National interests', in this usage, are the prospective national gains or losses in a concrete decisional situation. The article sets out the outline of a procedure by which objective estimates (i.e. based on the analyst's systematic criteria rather than the participant's own evaluations) of material advantage may be made. Examples of such studies are given. The last part of the article raises the question of what can and cannot be explained by this approach, and compares it with reasoning based on interest groups and decision-making factors. The conclusion emphasizes that our knowledge of the true significance of interest groups and decision-making factors is very limited as long as such models are not tested against the predictions of a 'national-interest model'.