Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

• Mahnaz Bayat Komitaki
• Mahdi Balavi

Abstract

"Rights" and "Public Interest" are among the key elements of political , legal
, ethical and social discourse in almost any society around the world including
the contemporary legal and political discourse of Iran. Meanwhile, societies
inevitably have certain reciprocal tensions resulting from diversities in their
ethical believes and contradictory claims.
That is why theorists in political philosophy and modern law have strived
towards advancing solutions to such controversial strains. To name a few,
Hobbes and Hegel have theorized the notion of State Interest, recognizing the
interest of a limited number of governors as public interest, based on which they
privileged it over individual rights and freedom of citizens. Granting, devesting
, dispensing or restriction of any sort of individual rights they maintained could
only be realized under the auspices of the same . This theory has its own
advocates and critics in Shiiat world .Shaikh Mofid and Shaikh Toosi are among
the proponents whereas Shaikh Ansari and Imam Khomeini fall under the
category of opponents. In this paper, after introducing State Interest doctrine,
we shall later review the misconceptions and practical challenges around the
concept in light of Balance theory as a convergent theory in the relation between
individual rights and public interest.

Keywords

• Right
• public interest
• justice
• Interest of State Doctrine
• Balance Theory