Consensus democracy
Encyclopedia
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.
Consensus democracy also features increased citizen participation both in determining the political agenda and in the decision-making process itself. Some have pointed to developments in information and communication technology as potential facilitators of such systems.
, Lebanon
, Sweden
, Iraq
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. 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.
, the territorial governments of the Northwest Territories
and Nunavut
also operate on a consensus model, unlike the oppositional political party
structure that prevails elsewhere in Canada.
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. The States of Guernsey (the island's parliament) last endorsed the system of consensus government by committees in 2002, when it rejected, by a very significant majority, a proposition to replace the system with executive/cabinet-style government. In 2004 Guernsey last made changes to its system of government.
Consensus government by committees in Guernsey is an alternative to party-based and ministerial government. Government departments are managed not by individual people with ministerial authority, but by committees of five members elected by the Assembly (parliament) of 47 members.
All major items of policy are proposed to the Assembly, by which they are approved, amended or rejected. Most items are determined by simple majority voting.
At the most recent general election of people's deputies (members), all candidates campaigned as independents without affiliation with any party. Political parties have existed from time to time, but with little success.
In 2009, a majority of members of Guernsey's government signed a letter describing their continuing commitment to consensus government by committees and opposition to executive/cabinet-style government.
At their meeting on 16 July 2009, the States of Deliberation resolved to establish a Tribunal by the Tribunals of Inquiry (Evidence)(Guernsey) Law, 1949, as amended to inquire into the facts and circumstances of the industrial action by the Airport Fire Fighters at Guernsey Airport during May 2009, including the circumstances in which the dispute was resolved. The Resolution followed presentation of a Requête dated 29 June 2009 petitioning for a Tribunal of Inquiry to be established, signed by Deputy M M Lowe and seventeen other members of the States soon after the events being investigated.
The Tribunal of Inquiry's Report was published on 23 April 2010 and included the following text:
The failure to deal with the underlying problem, which led to the industrial
action by the firefighters, stems from the system of government which does not encourage either a corporate approach or collective responsibility. In our view there was a systemic failure to act in a corporate and strategic manner.
During debate on the findings of the Tribunal, it was confirmed that the Tribunal's statements in respect of corporate and strategic planning related only to the topic of industrial relations and were not a more general commentary about the island's system of government.
In 2010 the island's parliament indicated its continuing endorsement of government by committees and consensus when it approved by a large majority a motion which proposed that governance arrangements should be improved strictly within the existing system of government.
Consensus decision-making
Consensus decision-making is a group decision making process that seeks the consent, not necessarily the agreement, of participants and the resolution of objections. Consensus is defined by Merriam-Webster as, first, general agreement, and second, group solidarity of belief or sentiment. It has its...
to the process of legislation in a democracy
Democracy
Democracy is generally defined as a form of government in which all adult citizens have an equal say in the decisions that affect their lives. Ideally, this includes equal participation in the proposal, development and passage of legislation into law...
. 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.
Consensus democracy also features increased citizen participation both in determining the political agenda and in the decision-making process itself. Some have pointed to developments in information and communication technology as potential facilitators of such systems.
Examples
Consensus democracy is most closely embodied in certain countries such as SwitzerlandPolitics of Switzerland
The politics of Switzerland take place in the framework of a multi-party federal parliamentary democratic republic, whereby the Federal Council of Switzerland is the head of government. Executive power is exercised by the government and the federal administration and is not concentrated in any one...
, Lebanon
Politics of Lebanon
Lebanon is a parliamentary republic within the overall framework of confessionalism, a form of consociationalism in which the highest offices are proportionately reserved for representatives from certain religious communities. The constitution grants the people the right to change their government...
, Sweden
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
, Iraq
Iraq
Iraq ; officially the Republic of Iraq is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert....
and Belgium
Belgium
Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...
, 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. 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
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
Poldermodel.
Canada
In CanadaCanada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
, the territorial governments of the Northwest Territories
Northwest Territories
The Northwest Territories is a federal territory of Canada.Located in northern Canada, the territory borders Canada's two other territories, Yukon to the west and Nunavut to the east, and three provinces: British Columbia to the southwest, and Alberta and Saskatchewan to the south...
and Nunavut
Nunavut
Nunavut is the largest and newest federal territory of Canada; it was separated officially from the Northwest Territories on April 1, 1999, via the Nunavut Act and the Nunavut Land Claims Agreement Act, though the actual boundaries had been established in 1993...
also operate on a consensus model, unlike the oppositional political party
Political party
A political party is a political organization that typically seeks to influence government policy, usually by nominating their own candidates and trying to seat them in political office. Parties participate in electoral campaigns, educational outreach or protest actions...
structure that prevails elsewhere in Canada.
Guernsey
Consensus (non-party) government operates in GuernseyGuernsey
Guernsey, officially the Bailiwick of Guernsey is a British Crown dependency in the English Channel off the coast of Normandy.The Bailiwick, as a governing entity, embraces not only all 10 parishes on the Island of Guernsey, but also the islands of Herm, Jethou, Burhou, and Lihou and their islet...
in the Channel Islands
Channel Islands
The Channel Islands are an archipelago of British Crown Dependencies in the English Channel, off the French coast of Normandy. They include two separate bailiwicks: the Bailiwick of Guernsey and the Bailiwick of Jersey...
. 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. The States of Guernsey (the island's parliament) last endorsed the system of consensus government by committees in 2002, when it rejected, by a very significant majority, a proposition to replace the system with executive/cabinet-style government. In 2004 Guernsey last made changes to its system of government.
Consensus government by committees in Guernsey is an alternative to party-based and ministerial government. Government departments are managed not by individual people with ministerial authority, but by committees of five members elected by the Assembly (parliament) of 47 members.
All major items of policy are proposed to the Assembly, by which they are approved, amended or rejected. Most items are determined by simple majority voting.
At the most recent general election of people's deputies (members), all candidates campaigned as independents without affiliation with any party. Political parties have existed from time to time, but with little success.
In 2009, a majority of members of Guernsey's government signed a letter describing their continuing commitment to consensus government by committees and opposition to executive/cabinet-style government.
At their meeting on 16 July 2009, the States of Deliberation resolved to establish a Tribunal by the Tribunals of Inquiry (Evidence)(Guernsey) Law, 1949, as amended to inquire into the facts and circumstances of the industrial action by the Airport Fire Fighters at Guernsey Airport during May 2009, including the circumstances in which the dispute was resolved. The Resolution followed presentation of a Requête dated 29 June 2009 petitioning for a Tribunal of Inquiry to be established, signed by Deputy M M Lowe and seventeen other members of the States soon after the events being investigated.
The Tribunal of Inquiry's Report was published on 23 April 2010 and included the following text:
The failure to deal with the underlying problem, which led to the industrial
action by the firefighters, stems from the system of government which does not encourage either a corporate approach or collective responsibility. In our view there was a systemic failure to act in a corporate and strategic manner.
During debate on the findings of the Tribunal, it was confirmed that the Tribunal's statements in respect of corporate and strategic planning related only to the topic of industrial relations and were not a more general commentary about the island's system of government.
In 2010 the island's parliament indicated its continuing endorsement of government by committees and consensus when it approved by a large majority a motion which proposed that governance arrangements should be improved strictly within the existing system of government.
See also
- Anticipatory democracyAnticipatory democracyAnticipatory democracy is a theory of civics relying on democratic decision making that takes into account predictions of future events that have some credibility with the electorate...
- Bioregional democracy
- Confessionalism (politics)Confessionalism (politics)Confessionalism is a system of government that refers to de jure mix of religion and politics. It can mean distributing political and institutional power proportionally among religious communities.-Debate:...
- Consensus decision-makingConsensus decision-makingConsensus decision-making is a group decision making process that seeks the consent, not necessarily the agreement, of participants and the resolution of objections. Consensus is defined by Merriam-Webster as, first, general agreement, and second, group solidarity of belief or sentiment. It has its...
- ConsociationalismConsociationalismConsociationalism is a form of government involving guaranteed group representation, and is often suggested for managing conflict in deeply divided societies...
- Deliberative democracyDeliberative democracyDeliberative democracy is a form of democracy in which public deliberation is central to legitimate lawmaking. It adopts elements of both consensus decision-making and majority rule. Deliberative democracy differs from traditional democratic theory in that authentic deliberation, not mere...
- DemarchyDemarchyDemarchy is a form of government in which the state is governed by randomly selected decision makers who have been selected by sortition from a broadly inclusive pool of eligible citizens...
- Democracy (varieties)Democracy (varieties)-Direct democracy:Direct democracy, classically termed pure democracy, is any form of government based on a theory of civics in which all citizens can directly participate in the decision-making process...
- Direct democracyDirect democracyDirect democracy is a form of government in which people vote on policy initiatives directly, as opposed to a representative democracy in which people vote for representatives who then vote on policy initiatives. Direct democracy is classically termed "pure democracy"...
- Grassroots democracyGrassroots democracyGrassroots democracy is a tendency towards designing political processes where as much decision-making authority as practical is shifted to the organization's lowest geographic level of organization: principle of subsidiarity....
- List of politics-related topics
- MinoritarianismMinoritarianismMinoritarianism is a neologism for a political structure or process in which a minority segment of a population has a certain degree of primacy in that entity's decision making....
- Open source governanceOpen source governanceOpen-source governance is a political philosophy which advocates the application of the philosophies of the open-source and open-content movements to democratic principles in order to enable any interested citizen to add to the creation of policy, as with a wiki document. Legislation is...
- Rationality and powerRationality and powerRationality and Power: Democracy in Practice is a book authored by Oxford University professor Bent Flyvbjerg and published by The University of Chicago Press . The book is a study of how power influences rationality and democracy. The book's theory and method build on a tradition in power studies...
- SociocracySociocracySociocracy is a system of governance, using consent-based decision making among equivalent individuals and an organizational structure based on cybernetic principles...
External links
- Consensus Democracy: A New Approach to 21st Century Governance
- Metagovernment - Project using the wikiWikiA wiki is a website that allows the creation and editing of any number of interlinked web pages via a web browser using a simplified markup language or a WYSIWYG text editor. Wikis are typically powered by wiki software and are often used collaboratively by multiple users. Examples include...
consensus model as a replacement for current governments. - On Conflict and Consensus - A Handbook on Formal Consensus Decisionmaking.
- Consensual Democracy - Online primer on the key concepts and ideas of consensual democracy.