In Defense of the National Interest: A Critical Examination of American Foreign Policy

by Hans J. Morgenthau

A landmark in the study of international relations, this reprint of the 1951 Alfred Knopf publication calls on Americans to recognize the primacy of national interest in the formulation of foreign policy. A controversial thesis in 1951, this statement of ideas has stood the test of time well into the 1980s. The author argued that it was essential to relearn on a continuing basis the enduring principles of international politics. He never abandoned the conviction that the national interest, expanded and redefined to make possible the mitigation and relief of novel and unprecedented threats to human survival, was fundamental.

Genres: International Relations, Political Science

283 pages, Paperback

First published October 29, 1982

About the author

Leading twentieth-century figures in the study of international politics. He made landmark contributions to international relations theory and the study of international law, and his Politics Among Nations, first published in 1948, went through many editions and was for decades the most-used textbook in its field in U.S. universities. In addition, Morgenthau wrote widely about international politics and U.S. foreign policy for general-circulation publications such as The New Leader, Commentary, Worldview, and The New Republic. He knew and corresponded with many of the leading intellectuals and writers of his era, such as Reinhold Niebuhr, George F. Kennan, and Hannah Arendt. At one point in the early Cold War, Morgenthau was a consultant to the U.S. Department of State when Kennan headed its Policy Planning Staff. For most of his career, however, Morgenthau was an academic critic of U.S. foreign policy rather than a formulator of it.