Miller’s idea of interests; is there a “general interest”?

According to Miller “interests are those forces in society which actively resort to political means in order to improve or defend their position, one against another”. We can talk about different types of interests. Every one is living in the society and playing different roles, meaning that at family he is a father (or she is a mother), at work – a worker, at theater – a spectator… So in every case person is acting according to certain interests which are the most important in a concrete case. The individual is “a universe of interests” according to Miller.

On the other side, living in the society, people gather in groups according to their interests. But it is not only people who decide to gather together, but also certain unions (professional, associations, parities, clubs etc.) who are, while trying to attract as many as possible new “members of the team”, fulfilling particular interests of people. It is rather a complicated network of different interests where some are similar, others are opposite. So, one has to set some priorities for himself. In every case, in the situation where some person has to decide on the interest the personal interest will be given priority.

Therefore, interests in the society are “allowed to exist as separate entities is society, as long as they recognize their obligations to society at large”… While speaking about some “general interest”, Miller writes that it can exist, but there is no must for it to exist. “A common life creates common interests, which constitute, in sum, the general interest”. If a general interest exists, usually it exists during a short period and in specific difficult circumstances.

I really liked the phrase that “every national leader … says that he has the nation behind him”. It is so true. In Belarus people see it from TV every day, though nobody can really represent whole nation and all interests as it is just impossible, because where will be always whose who are not happy with present situation. Also it is true that politicians quite often first of all look for general interests, which are suitable for themselves and people around them.

Two more ideas should be mentioned here. It is supposed that law and order are some of general interests. But I totally agree with Miller, that very often law and order are decided by a group of people in order to protect their own interests. The brilliant example here can be new law in Belarus which was invented in September 2005 and implemented this year to stop growth of non-governmental sector. According to this law we are not allowed to have any non registered initiatives and to act from the name of non registered organization. In fact, it is against Belarusian constitution and all possible human freedoms, but it does exist, because it is in interest of group of people.

Second idea to be mentioned is about peace as a general idea. While peace is different in understanding of different people we can’t really say that it is a general idea. However, again in Belarus idea of “no more war” is really speculated as general idea. Though Belarus is not really an example of a country with ‘highly developed society where there is space for a great variety of interests’. It is rather an extreme case, unfortunately.