The Study of the Concept of National Interest; Using Four levels of Individual,Group, State and System

The Study of the Concept of National Interest; Using Four levels of Individual,Group, State and SystemDr. Abo Mohammad AsgarkhaniManochehr shafei IncheheeAbstract:The national interest is a term that gets talked into frequency and any text that is associated with the political science and international relations can be a sign of the presence of this term. But unlike the common usage of this word, the meaning is in ambiguity, and when we discus national interest, the question you should ask is what national interests are? Who determines it? Are the examples of national interests fixed or do they change during the time? How can we say that actions with no predetermined outcomes that emerges in interaction with other units, can lead to survival and increase in national power? How can one distinguish between the interests of the ruling class and the national interest? How can hostility with A rather than B, be called an action based on national interest? How the rival groups, determine national interests? Due to the prevalence of this term in the daily literature of political science and international relations, the users of this term avoid rethinking about it and deal with it by a superficial point of view. This superficial point of view can lead to misperception and abuse of the term of national interest and since this concept is the starting point of domestic and foreign policy making, it can lead to aberration in decision making. Therefore, this paper is seeking to understand the meaning and dimensions of this term to show national interest is not a simple concept, but a complex term with multi-level forming process.Key word: National interest, International relations, Political science, Policy making