The Achievement of National Interests

... ACHIEVEMENT OF NATIONAL INTERESTS States use a vast range of instruments to achieve their national interests including; military, political and diplomatic forms of power. To understand why states use these instruments to influence their neighbours and the global community at large, it is important to note the differences between these mechanisms and the way in which each one brings about change in the international arena. Military force has frequently been used as a deterrent and threat to fellow states. Use of military force may involve the publication of documents which outline future military hardware purchases, the public testing of military technologies or an increase in military spending as a percentage of GDP. In the Asia-Pacific region we have seen many such examples. Recently in early 2009, Pyongyang was condemned by the wider international community for launching provocative ballistic missile tests into the Sea of Japan. This demonstration of new military hardware and

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