ABSTRACT
Hans J. Morgenthau’s writing and teaching has had a considerable effect on the actual conduct of international affairs. The self-determination of peoples reconstituted Europe and the Americas, by and large, into nation states. But even as late as the end of World War II, the concept did not apply to the colonial areas of Asia, Africa, or the Caribbean. The problem of what is meant by national interest also emerges clearly in the case of the black African states. Morgenthau has given thought to the function of educated elites in formulating and representing the national interest. The position is further complicated by the economic dimension. In most newly independent countries there is a growing awareness that political self-government and international recognition as a sovereign state are not the final stages on the road to complete independence, though they may be the decisive ones.
