National_Interest_and_Ideology

Nikunja Goswami Enrollment No. 009 National Interest is invariably expressed in ideological terms. Comment. Ideologues, a system devised by Destutt de Tracy in late seventeenth century to determine the psychological side of humanity. Ideology can be understood as an interrelated set of belief system that explains social, economic and political conditions, and articulates a set of actions and policies designed to make better life for a target audience. Intellects believe that ideologies are a modern phenomenon. Nineteenth century was considered as an era of ideologies where wave of different ideologies were witnessed across the globe. Some of those eruptive ideologies were experimented and consequences failed. Who conditions ideologies' Why and how it is generated' Ideologies are conditioned under environment we dwell in. As Aristotle argued men to be a political animal with a gift of reason and speech. Here ideologies are generated with reason. A normative belief in systematic approach is delivered by the reason to generate certain concept or theory. When ideologies are created, who are the receptors' Ideologies are implemented by a direct and indirect agent of a state or a nation. They are experimented on societies to fulfill a goal with a method. We can argue that the direct or indirect agent may reflect bias to serve the interest of a particular group or individual. Ideologies either have the tendency to over simplify reality or completely distort it. Reality here is the nation’s interest not only on its mass but also on international audience. National Interest is the reason of the state. It can be understood as a country’s ambitions in domestic and foreign arena. It could be economic, political, and cultural. Understanding of national interest can be traced back to France when it was first practiced by Cardinal Richelieu to block the power of Holy Roman Emperor. Soon the following decades the national interest saw its domination in Western politics. There is no doubt that national interest and ideologies both affect national behavior. There is a mutual interaction between the two. In term of maintaining foreign policy and eliminating international conflict we need essence from the two. A nation’s interest is difficult to define. It could include defense, national security, economy, interstate and foreign commerce, foreign relations and the state of general national affairs. Foreign policy could be one of the measures to a nation’s interest. A foreign policy is a government’s objective of a states international interest combined with a method to achieve them. Precisely, national interest is the actualized version of need and wants. In international politics, the ideologies and significant amount of national interest was challenged by revolutionary periods of the eighteenth and the beginning of the nineteenth century (during cold war period). A nation foreign policy should be based on national interest and not on personnel prejudices of whoever happens to be its leader at the time. Leaders of governments confuse their own personal viewpoints with those of their countries’ national interest which cause unwelcome and even dangerous outcome for their countrymen. All ideologies are in a continuum. The major strands are left wing ideologies and right wing ideologies. The followers of left wing ideologies want more governmental intervention in their everyday life. They want existence of increase in cooperation and economic equality between the people and the state. It can go to extreme ends where they use modes of revolution to create society based on equality. This strand includes modern liberals, democratic socialists, communists, radical revolutionary. The supporters of right wing ideologies want are oriented towards individual rights and freedoms but that does not include economic equality. This individualistic ideology believes in competition between two individuals and companies as the best way of society to succeed. They demand less support for government involvement. This strand includes classical liberals, neo conservatives, fascists and reactionaries. The ideologies shape political organization or authority that is selected by mass. Sometimes when nations become belligerent, the pillars of certain ideologies fade (fascism is an exception) For instance , during the cold war, United States of America welcomed as allies Chiang Kai- shek, Salazar, Franco, Pinochet, Korean general, Greek colonels, militarists in Argentina, Brazil, Turkey and Pakistan. But with the end of the Cold war and the establishment of Bush government, United States of America set aside a national interest based foreign policy for a interventionist (military) rooted ideology. Here national interest was of security from foreign foes. If we see China for example, their ideology of socialism is being challenged by the wave of globalization and capitalism. To pacify issues between domestic and foreign affairs power is dominating all. Power from the hands of ‘elite’. The authority there promises people to make their lives better with stability. But what happens on the day if no longer can' But Chinese residents respect their country through their cultural ideology of five thousand year old vibrant history along with rising economic and global status. Countries like Germany and France created a sense of national interest churned from their ideology. In Franch foreign affairs, De Gaulle put in place the policy that essentially is the French policy today – an alliance with Germany and the rejection of Great Britain in Europe. He supported France’s inclusion in the European common market, used his stature to keep the pro-American British out of Europe, and pulled France out of NATO in 1966. He wanted a French-controlled Europe. France is a nation still searching for its past grandeur. Present French leaders grasp that unless they control the European Union, they will slide further into the orbit of second- and third-tier nations. Allied with a pacifist Germany, France feels she will have the power to steer Europe away from United States, while using the European Union as mean to subsidize its own technocratic socialist state.  In present scenario national interest and ideologies go simultaneously. For instance, the question over Syrian intervention, countries like United States of America, France, United Kingdom has agreed on escalating weapon of destruction under international control, invoking security as their national interest. Whereas, China and Russia rejects the proposal of striking into Syria, considering it as illegal. Germany on the other hand ruled itself out from the participation in any military action. Thank you.