derable impact on defining national interest when a nation, such as Poland, is situated between two aggressive large powers. The imperatives of power have an impact on every nation, since national security is a permanent national interest. Each sovereign country must have a means of ensuring its security--whether this consists of an army of its own or a system of alliances with stronger nations (Fukuyama 12-13). But these interests are, in today's world, far less significant than in the past. In many cases, Fukuyama argues, it is ideological or cultural goals that are meant when the national interest is discussed (13).
Technological advances, changing definitions of legitimacy, and the evolution in the nature of economic production, have all combined to undermine the predominance of what were formerly seen as stable, and unavoidable, national interests. As these changes take place, the national interests of previous decades no longer apply. A good example is Fukuyama's instance of the new undesirability of trying to retain control ove
...