Consensus democracy is the application of consensus decision making to the process of legislation. It is a narrow, but perhaps the most important, application of consensus decision making methods. There is no form of government that applies consensus so uniformly, however, the most liberal Islamic political parties do hold this up as the ideal theory of civics through ijma, and in Western Europe, especially countries like Switzerland consensus is an important part of political culture. The term consensus democracy is used in political science to describe the latter. Consensus has two common meanings. ... Consensus decision-making is a decision process that not only seeks the agreement of most participants, but also to resolve or mitigate the objections of the minority to achieve the most agreeable decision. ... This article is in need of attention from an expert on the subject. ... Civics is the science of comparative government and means of administering public trusts - the theory of governance as applied to state institutions. ... Ijmāʿ (إجماع) is an Arabic tern referring to the consensus of the ummah, the community of Muslims, those practicing Islam, or of the ulema, those learned in the relevant topic. ...

Many countries in Western Europe (especially Belgium, Switzerland and the Netherlands (Polder model)) can be seen as consensus democracies. This is contrasted against majority rule, called majoritarian democracy. Countries with consensus democracy have stark divisions between language groups and/or religious groups. There is no group that forms a majority: Consensus between the minorities is necessary to govern the country. In these countries minorities have many means to protect themselves against other groups. Only when all minorities agree (when there is consensus) can policy be implemented and laws be made. These means include: The polder model is a phenomenon in politics in the Netherlands to reach an agreement despite differences, however great these might be. ... Majoritarianism is a political philosophy or agenda which asserts that a majority (sometimes categorized by religion, language or some other identifying factor) of the population is entitled to a certain degree of primacy in society, and has the right to make decisions that affect the society. ...

• Coalition cabinets, where executive power is shared between parties, not concentrated in one. Many of these cabinets are oversized, they include parties not necessary for a parliamentary majority;
• Balance of power between executive and legislative;
• Decentralized and federal government, where (regional) minorities have considerable independence;
• Asymmetric bicameralism, where it is impossible for one party to gain a majority in both houses. Normally one chamber represents regional interests and the other national interests;
• Proportional representation, to allow (small) minorities to gain representation too;
• Organized and corporatist interest groups, which represent minorities;
• A rigid constitution, which prevents government from changing the constitution without consent of minorities;
• Judicial review, which allow minorities to go to the courts to seek redress against laws that they see as unjust;
• Elements of direct democracy, which allow minorities to enact or prevent legislation.

In this view, Switzerland, a country with considerable minorities, is a prime example of such a consensus democracy. Examples of this include: the frequent use of referenda, its confederal structure, and the tradition that all large parties are included in the cabinet, creating oversized coalition governments. This can be directly linked to the many minorities Switzerland has: its population consists of both Protestants and Catholics; and French-, German-, Italian- and Romansch-speaking groups. The EU too can be seen as a consensus democracy: The parliament is bicameral: one chamber, the European Parliament is directly elected, the other the European Council consists of national ministers. The executive (the European Commission) is very weak in comparison to the legislature (especially the European Council). The Commission could be seen as an oversized coalition including (nearly) all large parties in parliament. A coalition government, or coalition cabinet, is a cabinet in parliamentary government in which several parties cooperate. ... A legislature is a governmental deliberative body with the power to adopt laws. ... A federal government is the common government of a federation. ... In government, bicameralism is the practice of having two legislative or parliamentary chambers. ... Proportional representation (PR) is an election system which ensures a proportionally representative result of a democratic election, x% of votes should be represented by x% in the democratic institutions, parliament or congress. ... Historically, corporatism or corporativism (Italian corporativismo) is a political system in which legislative power is given to civic assemblies that represent economic, industrial, agrarian, and professional groups. ... Judicial review is the power of a court to review a law or an official act of a government employee or agent for constitutionality or for the violation of basic principles of justice. ... Direct democracy comprises a form of democracy and theory of civics wherein all [[citizenship|citizens]traditional form of direct democracy sovereignty was lodged in the assembly of the people. ... The definition of a minority group can vary, depending on specific context, but generally refers to either a sub-group that does not form either a majority or a plurality of the total population, or a group that, while not necessarily a numerical minority, is disadvantaged or otherwise has less... A referendum (plural: referendums or referenda) or plebiscite is a direct vote in which an entire electorate is asked to either accept or reject a particular proposal. ... A confederation is an association of sovereign states, usually created by treaty but often later adopting a common constitution. ... A coalition government, or coalition cabinet, is a cabinet in parliamentary government in which several parties cooperate. ... Protestantism is a general grouping of denominations within Christianity. ... Romansh (also spelled Rumantsch, Romansch or Romanche) is one of the four national languages of Switzerland, along with German, Italian and French. ... The European Parliament is the parliamentary body of the European Union (EU), directly elected by EU citizens once every five years. ... The European Council, sometimes informally called the European Summit, is a meeting of the heads of state or government of the European Union, and the President of the European Commission (not to be confused with the Council of the European Union, or the Council of Europe). ... The European Commission (formally the Commission of the European Communities) is the executive of the European Union. ... The European Council, sometimes informally called the European Summit, is a meeting of the heads of state or government of the European Union, and the President of the European Commission (not to be confused with the Council of the European Union, or the Council of Europe). ...

In the US consensus democracy is used in contrast to indirect democracy, deliberative democracy and grassroots democracy: The term deliberative democracy is also often used to emphasize opportunities for deeper debate on issues of bodily importance to the community (bodies being the concern of politics as such). It is to be differentiated from consensus models since it focuses on discussions, not decisions. Deliberative democracy, also sometimes called discursive democracy, is a term used by political theorists, e. ...

The term grassroots democracy is somewhat looser and is often used to imply a broad range of consensus-promoting measures, short of a full consensus democracy. This term is generally preferred by those who are not claiming to promise a "strict consensus" system (which is interpreted by many as meaning "act only on unanimity"), e.g. if there is to be an integration with an existing representative democracy. Grassroots democracy is a tendency towards designing political processes where as much decision-making authority as is practical to the organizations lowest geographic level of organization. ... Representative democracy is a form of democracy and theory of civics in which voters choose (in free, secret, multi-party elections) representatives to act in their interests, but not as their proxies—i. ...

In general, the term 'consensus democracy' is usually associated with the political 'left' while the term 'semi-direct democracy' is usually associated with the political 'right'. The term 'grassroots democracy' is more neutral and has been employed by both 'the left' and 'the right' in the English-speaking world and its institutions. For instance, the Green Party in the United States, the United States Republican Party, the Canadian Alliance, and the Green Party of Canada have all used it in the recent past. There seems to be consensus on the term 'grassroots', even if there is often little similarity in the measures proposed. Direct democracy comprises a form of democracy and theory of civics wherein all citizens can directly participate in the decision-making process. ... In United States politics, the Green Party has been active as a third party since the 1980s. ... The Republican Party, often called the GOP (for Grand Old Party, although one early citation described it as the Gallant Old Party) [1], is one of the two major political parties in the United States. ... The Canadian Alliance (in full, the Canadian Reform Conservative Alliance) was a Canadian right-of-centre conservative political party that existed from 2000 to 2003. ... The Green Party of Canada is a federal political party in Canada. ...

Nonetheless, there remain people who believe that pure consensus decision making can be applied directly to make major political decisions, so the theory of consensus democracy remains distinct.

Requirements to put this theory into effect are:

• a clear definition of the degree to which people are answerable to non-human power (in Islam this is the khalifa)
• a clear definition of the people affected and thus involved (in Islam these are the ummah)
• a clear definition of the degree of effort and expectations of patience required for the solution (in Islam this is ijtihad)
• a discipline among the learned (in Islam, the ulema or scholars or jurists) to teach and apply this method to reach rulings in the law (in Islam, the sharia), and to avoid precedent overwhelming the current reality of circumstance (in Islam this often did occur, is called taqlid or "blind imitation", and led to the freezing of the classical fiqh under the Ottomans)
• a willingness to adapt to local customs and usage, where these represent constraints (in Islam this is the al-urf or "the custom")

Islām is described as a dÄ«n, meaning way of life and/or guidance. Six articles of belief There are six basic beliefs shared by all Muslims: 1. ... Khalifa (خليفة ) is Arabic for stewardship of nature and family, and is a key obligation of a Muslim. ... Umma (Arabic: ) is an Arabic word meaning community or nation. ... Ijtihad (Arabic اجتهاد) is a technical term of Islamic law that describes the process of making a legal decision by independent interpretation of the legal sources, the Quran and the Sunnah. ... The Ulema are Muslim scholars engaged in the several fields of Islamic studies, responsible for interpreting the Sharia. ... Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Law Law topics overview List of areas of law List of legal topics List of legal terms List of jurists List of legal abbreviations List of case law lists List of law firms Further reading Cheyenne Way: Conflict & Case Law in Primitive Jurisprudence, Karl... Sharia (Arabic: ; also SharÄ«ah, Sharia, Shariah or Syariah) is the Arabic word for Islamic law, also known as the Law of Allah. ... Precedent, sometimes authority, is the legal principle or rule created by a court which guides judges in subsequent cases with similar issues or facts. ... Taqlid is typically considered blind following, and is allegedly what inspired the Wahhabi movement to eradicate forms of Sufism that had - per their perspective - departed significantly from both the spirit and practice of Islam. ... Islamic jurisprudence, (Arabic: Fiqh) (in Arabic and Persian: فقه) is made up of the rulings (Fatwa) of Muslim Islamic jurists (Ulema) to direct the lives of the Muslims. ... In Islamic law (Sharia Arabic: شريعة), al-urf العرف is the custom of a given society, leading to change in the Egypt, marriage the Urfi way means to get married without offical papers issued by the state (Zawag Urfi:زواج عرفي). ...

See also

• Democracy (varieties)
• List of politics-related topics

• Anticipatory democracy
• Bioregional democracy
• Consensus decision-making
• Deliberative democracy
• Demarchy
• Direct democracy
• Grassroots democracy
• Minoritarianism
• Open source governance
• Sociocracy

Here is a partial list of varieties of democracy. ... The Elections and Parties Series Democracy Liberal democracy History of democracy Referenda Representative democracy Representation Voting Voting systems Elections Elections by country Elections by calender Electoral systems Politics Politics by country Political campaigns Political science Political philosophy Related topics Political parties Parties by country Parties by name Parties by ideology... Anticipatory 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 (or the Bioregional State) is a set of electoral reforms designed to force the political process in a democracy to better represent concerns about the economy, the body, and environmental concerns (e. ... Consensus decision-making is a decision process that not only seeks the agreement of most participants, but also to resolve or mitigate the objections of the minority to achieve the most agreeable decision. ... Deliberative democracy, also sometimes called discursive democracy, is a term used by political theorists, e. ... Demarchy is a term coined by Australian philosopher John Burnheim to describe a political system without the state or bureaucracies, and based instead on randomly selected groups of decision makers. ... Direct democracy comprises a form of democracy and theory of civics wherein all [[citizenship|citizens]traditional form of direct democracy sovereignty was lodged in the assembly of the people. ... Grassroots democracy is a tendency towards designing political processes where as much decision-making authority as is practical to the organizations lowest geographic level of organization. ... Minoritarianism (often also called minority rule) is a political philosophy or agenda which asserts that a segment of a countrys population (sometimes categorized by religion, language or some other identifying factor) to which a minority of its citizens belong is entitled to obstruct political progress sought by a majority... Open source governance advocates the application of the philosophies of the open source movement to democratic principles, to enable any interested citizen to add to the creation of new policy—rather like a wiki document. ... The word sociocracy was coined by the American sociologist Lester Frank Ward in a paper he wrote for the Penn Monthly in 1881. ...

External links

• Beyond Plutocracy — Free online book: "Beyond Plutocracy - Direct Democracy for America" by Roger Rothenberger.
• On Conflict and Consensus - A Handbook on Formal Consensus Decisionmaking.