Ruşen Keleş* How to Reconcile Private Interests with the Public Interest? Conceptual Ideas in the Light of the Turkish Court Decisions Regarding Orderly Urbanization and Environment 1. On the Concept of the Public Interest The concept of public interest has become one of the controversial concepts in political science. However, it is still used as one of the most useful guiding principles and as a promising criterion for the determination of public policies. The concept has become subject to controversy simply because it is assumed that this kind of interest is equated with the interests of such metaphysical objects as the “groups”, “communities” or “socie- ties” which are representing higher values than those of the individuals. Individualism, however, would not allow such a simplification which tends to degrade the position of the individual in the society. During the twentieth century even many scholars argued that the very existence of such
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