[2] The expression "reason of state" (Ragion di Stato) was formulated in 1580, found in the works of Giovanni Botero, who was influenced by, and wrote criticisms of the Italian diplomat and political thinker Niccolò Machiavelli, popularly known as the author of The Prince and The Discourses on Livy.
[3][2] Prominently, Chief Minister Cardinal Richelieu justified France's intervention on the Protestant side, despite its own Catholicism, in the Thirty Years' War (1618-48) as being in the national interest in order to block the increasing power of the Catholic Holy Roman Emperor.
[citation needed] At Richelieu's prompting, Jean de Silhon defended the concept of raison d'État as "a mean between what conscience permits and affairs require.
"[4][5][6] Within the field of international relations, national interest has frequently been assumed to comprise the pursuit of power, security and wealth.
[9][15][16] In a February 2020 article for CSIS, Gordon de Brouwer argued: "The national interest has three components—security, prosperity, and social wellbeing—and they should all be part of framing the problem and solutions.