National interest and determination of national interests of the Republic of Azerbaijan

One of the main problems in Azerbaijani politics is that politicians and public figures engage in political manipulation or populism based on the concept of national interest.

As the Third Republican Platform, in this paper we present our theoretical vision and principled approach to the concept of national interest. 

Theoretically, two meanings of the concept of national interest should be distinguished: rhetorical and analytical.

• In the rhetorical sense, national interest is the rhetoric of politicians and public figures and in this sense, the expression of national interest is used to persuade the population or a group of them. 
• In the analytical sense, the national interest consists of analyzing the objective meaning of the concept of national interest and defining the rational framework corresponding to it. 

The nature of the state (its monopoly on the legitimate apparatus of violence) and, consequently, the nature of interstate relations (competition/conflict or partnership) play a key role in defining the concept of national interest. We believe that the national interest should not be based on subjective assessments, but on the objective assessments analyzed above. Therefore, rhetorically, we are against the concept of national interest because it is subjective. We believe that by defining the objective meaning of the concept of national interest, political behavior can be shaped accordingly.

Based on the above, we believe that the national interest as a concept represents the logic of governance for the realization of economic, military, cultural and other goals and ambitions of a sovereign state.

In this regard, the concepts of national interest and democratic governance do not contradict each other. On the contrary, the democratic procedure plays an important role in determining national interests. 

Based on the foregoing, it is possible to determine the following as national interests:

• Identity – guarantee of the rights and freedoms of the person;
• Nation - is the promotion of the public interests of the nation (the aggregate of the country's citizens). Here, when we speak of public interests, we mean issues aimed at ensuring the security and well-being of society; 
• State-independence of the state (formally independent of other states), sovereignty (having a final say over its territory within an acceptable framework) and security.

Thus, as a logical result of the rhetorical and analytical explanation of the concept of national interests, the Third Republican Platform defines the national interests of the Republic of Azerbaijan according to the following principles:

Human – his/her rights and freedoms;

State - its independence, sovereignty, unity, secularism and security;

Nation - the unity of the Azerbaijani people, meaning that regardless of ethnicity, religious beliefs and language, all citizens of the state of Azerbaijan - Azerbaijanis are unified nation.