Political scientists define a consociational state as a state which has major internal divisions along ethnic, religious, or linguistic lines, yet nonetheless manages to remain stable, due to consultation among the elites of each of its major social groups. Consociational states are often contrasted with state with majority rule. Political science is a social science discipline that deals with the theory and practice of politics and the description and analysis of political systems and political behavior. ... A state is an organized political community occupying a definite territory, having an organized government, and possessing internal and external sovereignty. ... Look up élite and elite in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... 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. ...

Classical examples of consociational states are Belgium, Switzerland, Lebanon, India and the Netherlands

Consociational polities often have these characteristics:

• 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 very difficult 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;
• Proportional employment in the public sector;
• A neutral head of state, either a monarch with only a ceremonial duties, or an indirectly elect president, who gives up party affiliation after his election;
• Referenda are only used to allow minorities to block legislation: this means that they must be a citizen's initiative and that there is no compulsory voting.
• Equality between ministers in cabinet, the prime minister is only the primus inter pares;
• An independent central bank, where experts and not politicians set out monetary policies.

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. 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 (bi + Latin camera, chamber) is the practice of having two legislative or parliamentary chambers. ... Proportional representation (PR) is a (by necessity multi-winner) electoral system whose use tends to make elections result in groups of votes being represented in proportional fractions in some body of representatives, i. ... 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 sovereignty was lodged in the assembly of all citizens. ... Queen Elizabeth II, is the Head of State in many Commonwealth countries including the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, Jamaica, New Zealand, the Bahamas and many more, as well as crown colonies and overseas territories of the United Kingdom. ... A monarchy, (from the Greek monos, one, and archein, to rule) is a form of government that has a monarch as Head of State. ... A referendum (plural: referendums or referenda) or plebiscite is a direct ass vote in which an entire electorate is asked to either accept or reject a particular proposal. ... In political science, the initiative (also known as popular or citizens initiative) provides a means by which a petition signed by a certain minimum number of registered voters can force a public vote on a proposed statute, constitutional amendment, charter amendment or ordinance. ... Sir Robert Walpole, the first Prime Minister A prime minister is a politician who serves as the head of the executive branch of government in a parliamentary system. ... First among equals is a phrase which indicates that a person is the most senior of a group of people sharing the same rank or office. ... 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 ass 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. ... 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 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 parties in parliament. The European Parliament is the parliamentary body of the European Union (EU), directly elected by EU citizens once every five years. ... The European Council, 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. ... The European Commission (formally the Commission of the European Communities) is the executive body of the European Union. ...

See also

• Confederation
• Federation
• Consensus democracy