Consensus democracy is the application of consensus decision-making to the process of legislation in a democracy. It is characterized 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, for example the usage of DemocracyOS[2] being used in Buenos Aires.
Examples[edit]
Consensus democracy is most closely embodied in certain countries such as Switzerland,Germany, Denmark, 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.[3] 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. Many parties in Lebanon call for applying consensus democracy (الديمقراطية التوافقية), especially at times of crisis.
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Summary of Lijphart: Patterns of democracy - From WikiSummary,
http://wikisum.com/w/Lijphart:_Patterns_of_democracy~~~~
【容乜乜暗撐香港成邦？】假才子
在某大台新界東選舉論壇上，新民黨的容乜乜引述「西方學者李伯特」講「共識政治」，估計是 Arend Lijphart 和他首先稱呼的 consensual democracy，我書架上正好有一本他寫的書。
Consensual Democracy 講的不單是減少社會分化令各方變得一樣意見，而是怎樣在社會多元分化之下協助達成共識，和而不同。這主要是靠政制。Lijphart 提出的重點包括：
1. 比例代表制：讓不同聲音都能進入體制，讓各方有公平機會發聲。
2. 多黨執政聯盟：承上，要讓不同聲音都進入政府，不能讓一黨獨大，將各方綁在一條船上，逼他們共同承擔責任和合作，重點是分享權力 power sharing。
3. 互相制衡：行政和立法要互相制衡，不能有一方獨大。施政要順利，當然需要雙方適時合作，但這是建基於平等的協商，不是行政逼立法通過。
4. 嚴謹憲法、司法獨立、司法覆核：承上，都是互相制衡，而且要保障少數派有反對的渠道。
5. 聯邦制：在不少國家，社會分化是源於民族、文化、語言等的差異。使用聯邦制能保障少數民族/文化/語言分子的權益，也能增加他們循制度解決紛爭的誘因。
再補充，與 consensual democracy 相對的是 majoritarian democracy，網上譯「多數決民主」(因為我是讀書時是用英文，中譯要靠網上找)，即多數派 majority 可以全取權力的民主形式。具體一點就是兩黨制，永遠一黨執政一黨在野，執政黨夠票就可以無視少數派硬推政策的模式。
如果照搬「西方學者李伯特」的「共識政治」過來中國和香港，就要建立憲政民主、三權分立、多黨政治、聯邦制，香港可以成為大中華聯邦的其中一個參與國。不知容乜乜是否這個意思呢？
ps 筆者以前也寫過一篇講 Lijphart 和 consensual democracy 的，當時是因為聽到京官來港亂 up 24 時引用西方學者。不知容乜乜是否在學該京官？該篇文章講的更詳細，有興趣可看看。
【讀書防止受騙：京官亂引西方學者
http://nonintellect.blogspot.hk/2014/09/blog-post_2.html】
http://nonintellect.blogspot.hk/2014/09/blog-post_2.html】
【作者 fb page https://www.facebook.com/nonintellect/】
