Consensus democracy

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Consensus democracy is the application of consensus decision making to the process of legislation in a democracy. It is characterised by a decision-making structure which involves and takes into account as broad a range of opinions as possible, as opposed to systems where minority opinions can potentially be ignored by vote-winning majorities.^[1]

Consensus democracy also features increased citizen participation both in determining the political agenda and in the decision making process itself. Some^[who?] have pointed to developments in information and communication technology as potential facilitators of such systems.

Contents 1 Examples 2 See also 3 References 4 External links

[edit] Examples

Consensus democracy is most closely embodied in certain countries such as Switzerland, Lebanon, Finland and Belgium, where consensus is an important feature of political culture, particularly with a view to preventing the domination of one linguistic or cultural group in the political process.^[2] The term consociational state is used in political science to describe countries with such consensus based political systems. An example of such a system could be the Dutch Poldermodel.

In Canada, the territorial governments of the Northwest Territories and Nunavut also operate on a non-partisan consensus government model, unlike the oppositional political party structure that prevails elsewhere in Canada.

Consensus (non-party) government also operates in Guernsey in the Channel Islands. Guernsey also operates a non-ministerial system of government in which government departments are headed not by ministers with executive authority, but by boards or committees of five members. A proposition to introduce executive/cabinet-style government was heavily defeated in the States of Deliberation (Guernsey's parliament) when the matter was last debated in 2002.

[edit] See also

• Anticipatory democracy
• Bioregional democracy
• Confessionalism (politics)
• Consensus decision-making
• Consociationalism
• Deliberative democracy
• Demarchy
• Democracy (varieties)
• Direct democracy
• Grassroots democracy
• List of politics-related topics
• Minoritarianism
• Open politics
• Open source governance
• Sociocracy

[edit] References

1. ^ Glossary definition from Direct Democracy in Switzerland
2. ^ Lijphart, A., Patterns of Democracy: Government Forms & Performance in Thirty-six Countries. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1999. ISBN 0-300-07893-5

[edit] External links

• Consensus Democracy: A New Approach to 21st Century Governance
• Metagovernment - Project using the wiki consensus model as a replacement for current governments.
• On Conflict and Consensus - A Handbook on Formal Consensus Decisionmaking.