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Where it all starts: Lobbying, democracy and the Public Interest
Author(s) -
Bitonti Alberto
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
journal of public affairs
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.221
H-Index - 20
eISSN - 1479-1854
pISSN - 1472-3891
DOI - 10.1002/pa.2001
Subject(s) - ambiguity , public interest , vision , democracy , typology , positive economics , epistemology , focus (optics) , sociology , ideal (ethics) , expression (computer science) , law and economics , political science , economics , law , politics , linguistics , computer science , philosophy , physics , optics , anthropology , programming language
The article is a theoretical and semantic analysis of the concept of Public Interest. It starts with a focus on the ambiguity of the concepts of interest and public , whose different interpretations directly impact the understanding of the expression “Public Interest.” An examination follows of the most important contributions in the literature on the idea of Public Interest. A distinction is then drawn between the concept and different conceptions of it. In particular, I propose a typology of five ideal–typical conceptions of the Public Interest: formal, substantive, realist, aggregative, and procedural. For each conception, I highlight the constitutive elements and the relevant consequences in their respective visions of democracy and of lobbying. Some expectations are finally advanced on the uses of the various conceptions in actual policymaking contexts.