Consensus
The following definitions are from different Wikipedia articles:
See our own entry on Consent vs. Consensus
See also Deliberative Democracy
Consensus
URL = http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Consensus
Consensus has two common meanings. One is a general agreement among the members of a given group or community. The other is as a theory and practice of getting such agreements.
Consensus Decision-making
URL = http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Consensus_decision-making
"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. Consensus is usually defined as meaning both: a) general agreement, and b) the process of getting to such agreement. Consensus decision-making is thus concerned primarily with that process."
Consensus Democracy
URL = http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Consensus_democracy
"Consensus democracy is the application of consensus decision making to the process of legislation. 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. It also features increased citizen participation both in determining the political agenda and in the decision making process itself. Some have pointed to developments in communications technology as potential facilitators of such systems.
Consensus democracy is most closely embodied in certain Western European countries such as Switzerland, 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.
The concept of ijma in Islam also addresses state decision making by consensus, albeit by the ulema (Muslim scholars) rather than the population at large."
Key Books to Read
Jon Elster, ed. Deliberative Democracy. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 282 pages.
Nino, C. S. (1996)The Constitution of Deliberative Democracy. New Haven: Yale University Press