are motivated primarily by their self-interest. He rejected the idea that there was "a rational and moral political order, derived from universally valid abstract principles." He said that the real world consisted of "opposing interests and of conflict among them . . . [in which] "moral principles can never be fully realized, but must at best be approximated through the ever temporary balance of interests and the ever present settlement of conflicts."
Realists tend to define the national interest in terms of the territorial security, and freedom from physical attack and foreign interference of their nation. Viotti and Kauppi add that the national interest includes preservation of a nation's economic vitality and prosperity and of certain "core values," including in the case of the United States its political liberties within its territorial limits. The realists agree with the comment of early Secretary of State John Quincy Adams that America "goes not abroad in search of monsters to destroy. She is the well-wisher to the freedom and independence of all. She is the champion and vindicator only of her own."
Another strong strain in American foreign policy has been its tendency to define the national interest in universalistic terms. This translates into a tendency for America to see itself as a moral crusader or missionary. As Kissinger puts it, according to the universalists, "America's values impose on it an obligation to crusade for them around the world." Kennan refers to this as national self-centeredness, the American dream "of a conflictless world" and "of projects of a largely Utopian
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