Conceptualising National Interest and National Security in Nigeria

Abstract

The maintenance of a nation's sovereignty and territorial integrity, survival, self-preservation, prosperity, as well as the protection of its core values and norms against internal and external dangers, is subsumed under the rubrics of national interest and national security. This study holds the view that the concept of national interest is linked to, and is often defined with national security because the latter is viewed as the hallmark of government policy that projects the creation of national and international political conditions favourable to the protection of vital national values against existing and potential adversaries. In conceptualising national interest and national security in Nigeria...