ABSTRACT
National interest as a concept of social science does not have a wide range of use, with more limited interdisciplinary application than some other concepts such as identity, security or rationality. It is mostly used in political science in general, and in its international relations sub-discipline in particular. Although the concept did make an appearance in historical and political publications before the 1950s,1
it found its popularity by the dominance of the realist school of thought in international relations as a distinct discipline of politics in the aftermath of World War II. Hans Morgenthau popularized the concept when he gave it the second place among his six principles of political realism.2
