№ 1 - 2000
Molchanov M.A.
Controversial Aspects of the «National Interest» Problem

An independent Canadian researcher describes major controversial aspects of the “national interest” problem. The author dwells on how differently the problem is posed in Russian and in Western political science. Whereas Russian public opinion is grap-pling with the question of which interest is to be called really “national” — that of the state, of civil society, or of the ethnos, in the West they are no more sure that “na-tional interest” may retain its significance in today’s globalizing world where the most important economy subjects are transnational corporations. As for the author himself, he is not inclined to agree either with Western liberals who consider “national interest” as a survival of the past state-centrist epoch, or with Russian liberals giving up “na-tional interest” for the sake of pluralism of opinions. The author maintains that Russia will hardly be able to adapt herself to modern world without leaning on the support of her own state and without being guided by her own interests.