The conceptualization of national interest in contemporary international studies

Abstract

Appeal to the category of «national interests» in actual humanitites connects with great uncertainty of initial terms and ideological bias & engagement. Despite the fact there’s substantial body of serious researches which have defi ned national interests in Russian and foreign political science, contemporary works rarely make any reference to them and prefer to invent new defi nitions and connect defined object with current trends of real politics. In such circumstances, national interests need to be reconceptualized and confined in order to maintain scientific nature of existing discussions. The current article presents the basic researches of Western scholars on the definition, classification and analysis of national interests. Also, author consider key positions and directions of the debate about the nature of national interests. Refs 19. Tables 3.