Examine and Assess the Claim That ‘Making Something Public Is No Simple Matter’

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Examine and assess the claim that ‘making something public is no simple matter’ (Bromley and Clarke, 2009 p.324). In any democratic society, issues of public concern must be discussed on all levels, from common people up to government representatives, in order to come up with mutually acceptable solutions. But because society is a complex living thing accompanying many players with different sets of values, interests and various degrees of power, it is not easy even to bring an issue into public debate not deciding on the course of action. This essay will discuss what processes are needed for any issue to became considered requiring public debate and subsequent governing; how such topics turn to be known by society; what processes define the subject of public debate; how is urgency and importance of resolving public problems evaluated; and finally who is supposed to take action. First of all, for any topic to be suitable entering a public debate it needs to be considered as outside of the private-life realm. Cooper (cited in Bromley and Clarke, 2009, p. 323) argues that firstly there is an unwritten rule of not interfering with private spheres of people’s lives; and secondly that debates and following conclusions of them (that is action) mustn’t be driven by subjective ideals. She identified private and public decision-making as opposites, where private thinking/doing is supposed to be fuelled by subjective biased emotions – unsuitable to enter and lead public debate, in opposite to public objective/rational/impartial decision making. This notion was also apparent in the court decision about the Somerset’s hunting ban pressed by some members of the public. Because disputed land was publicly owned, decisions about it were also expected to be based on rational criteria, free of affective emotions that are present when discussing sensitive issues as

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