Book excerpt: This article addresses the ways that economic incentives shape national interests and foreign policies, applying arguments that are derived from Albert Hirschman's National Power and the Structure of Foreign Trade (Albert O. Hirschman, National Power and the Structure of Foreign Trade (1945; Berkeley: University of California Press, 1980). Hirschman's focus was on the political consequences of asymmetric economic relationships, and he illustrated these with a study of German trade strategy in the interwar period. National Power also illustrated how the pattern of economic relations can profoundly affect international politics by shaping the way governments define their interests. Although states must always provide for their own security, different domestic political actors typically have competing visions of their country's best interests. Basic foreign policy choices often result from domestic political struggles, and the foreign economic policies of other states affect the outcomes of those internal political contests.