Public Interest

The public interest refers to the "common well-being" or "general welfare". The public interest is central to policy debates, politics, democracy and the nature of government itself. While nearly everyone claims that aiding the common well-being or general welfare is positive, there is little, if any, consensus on what exactly constitutes the public interest, or whether the concept itself is a coherent one.

Read more about Public Interest:  Definitions, Problems With The Ex Post or Consequential Approach, Public Interest Law, United Kingdom Public Interest Law, Public Interest & The Government, Public Interest & Communication Policies

Famous quotes containing the words public and/or interest:

    Deacon King was tried for violating the Sabbath, and so hot was the debate that it was referred to the church council, which ultimately decided, after long and grave debate, that the deacon had committed a ‘work of necessity and mercy.’
    —For the State of Massachusetts, U.S. public relief program (1935-1943)

    Parents do not give up their children to strangers lightly. They wait in uncertain anticipation for an expression of awareness and interest in their children that is as genuine as their own. They are subject to ambivalent feelings of trust and competitiveness toward a teacher their child loves and to feelings of resentment and anger when their child suffers at her hands. They place high hopes in their children and struggle with themselves to cope with their children’s failures.
    Dorothy H. Cohen (20th century)