National Interest: This notion is “used generally in two senses in IR: as an analytical tool identifying the goals or objectives of foreign policy and as an all-embracing concept of political discourse used specifically to justify particular policy preferences. In both senses, it refers to the basic determinants that guide state policy in relation to the external environment. It applies only to sovereign states and relates specifically to foreign policy: the internal variety usually being characterized as ‘the public interest’. The correct answer is C.