ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book introduces themes associated with process vs. outcome; the inquiry-driven dialectic; and questions of context, place and time as central considerations for public interest communication and inquiry. It explores the widely interrogated field of the public interest as a largely political construct and continues in this line of inquiry to consider the ways in which communication and the public interest intersect. The book examines the ways in which strategic tools of engagement and participation are co-opted into the agendas of dominant structures. It also examines the public interest in the context of climate change communication, exploring the potential for deontic or dialogical approaches to the public interest and their implications for climate change-related planning and policy development. The book explains how public interest communication is conceptualised and contested in divided communities.
