Public interest - features of the concept

2024 Author: Henry Conors | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-02-12 02:41

Public interests - a sociological concept that characterizes the interests of a community of people or an average representative of the population in terms of well-being, security, stability and progress, etc. They exist along with state and personal interests. Often they are opposed to each other. The difference between public interest and personal interest is that the first is characterized by a wide distribution among the population, and the second characterizes the personal interests of a particular citizen.

The main defender of public interests is called upon to be the state. This is often done by private or public organizations. They monitor the situation, organize rallies, and try to influence local and federal authorities in order to protect the rights and interests of the country's residents. Their actions can go as far as trying to change the law through appeals to international bodies and the Constitutional Court.

Stateand public interests do not always coincide. This forces the authorities to seek a compromise and influence the mass (public) consciousness through the media. Until now, the boundary between the private interest of individuals and the public has not been established, which indicates the vagueness of the concept.

Legal protection of civil interests

Such protection is based on the eternal desire of people for social justice. In this regard, a special term appeared: “the right of public interest”. Most often it is used in the expanses of the former USSR. They are appealed, first of all, by representatives of human rights organizations, environmentalists, professional lawyers and other human rights activists. Common to all these groups is the desire to use the law as a tool for solving social and other problems. Action based on these principles is to respect human rights, an open society, democracy and the rule of law.

The role of the state in shaping public interests

The collective interests of the masses have changed throughout human history. Most often, people's requirements are growing, but the very spectrum of preferences is changing, the accents are changing. Previously, the most important component was the right to security, personal freedom and free work. And, for example, the right to rest faded into the background. Now the public interest is much greater than it was before. The state influences the interests of people through television and other media. It tries to turn their preferences and priorities into moreadvantageous side.

Now in Russia it is becoming more and more popular to have a car. That is, the possession of it is already a public interest. A similar conclusion can be drawn about the increase in the size of housing. The living space that satisfied the Soviet people is unlikely to suit the current Russian. At the same time, smaller values are sufficient for the Japanese.

New public interests include the right to use the Internet, mobile communications, tablets and other similar electronics. It used to be out of the civic interests of the people.

Are there such concepts in the legislation of the Russian Federation?

The legislation of the Russian Federation does not contain any definitions of public, state and public interests. Some indications regarding these concepts are available in the Civil Code of the Russian Federation of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation. It says that the use and publication of the image of a particular person is possible only if there is a public interest, namely in cases where the citizen is an important public and political figure, and the use of the image is required for public discussion or in order to satisfy the socially significant interest of citizens. However, in situations where the purpose of publishing and using the image is a purely philistine interest in his personal life or a commercial goal is pursued, permission from this citizen will be required for publication.

What is meant by public

Legislation does not include any interestpopulation to the category of public interest. They include only the most significant, such as ensuring security (national, environmental, personal, etc.), rights and freedoms of citizens. The public interest may include the provision through the media of information on abuse of authority and other information relating to the socially significant activities of an official. But at the same time, the publication of materials about the private life of a person whose activity is not socially significant can no longer be considered an activity that satisfies the interests of society.

Conclusion

Thus, the interests of the state and public are important components of the existence of any country. Personal interests often coincide with the public, but not always. After all, they are much more diverse and individual. In the legislation of the Russian Federation there are no clear definitions of such concepts. In addition, unlike personal and state interests, the interests of society cannot always be defined unambiguously.