\nConsensus
\nDecision Making
\nConsensus decision making is a creative and dynamic way of reaching agreement between all members of a group. Instead of simply voting for an item and having the majority of
\nthe group getting their way, a group using consensus is committed to finding solutions
\nthat everyone actively supports, or at least can live with.
\nThis ensures that all opinions ideas and concerns are taken into account.
\nThrough listening closely to each other, the group aims to come up with proposals that work
\nfor everyone. Consensus is neither compromise nor unanimity \u2013 it aims to go further by weaving
\ntogether everyone\u2019s best ideas and key concerns \u2013 a process that often results in surprising and
\ncreative solutions, inspiring both theindividual and the group as whole.
\nConsensus can work in all types of settings small groups, local communities, businesses, even whole
\nnations and territories. The exact process may differ depending on the size of the group and other
\nfactors, but the basic principles are the same.
\nIn the following briefing you\u2019ll find lots of useful information, not only about the basics of consensus decision making, but also about how to apply it to large groups of people and about ideas for dealing with common problems. We also have a Shot Guide to Consensus and you can find lots of tips on
\nhow to make your consensus meetings run smoothly in our guides to Facilitating Meetings
\nWhat\u2019s wrong with the democracy we\u2019ve got?
\nHow we make decisions is the key to how our society is organised. It influences every aspect of
\nour lives including our places of work, local communities, health services, and even whether
\nwe live in war or peace. Many of us have been brought up to believe that the western-style system of voting is the highest form of democracy. Yet in the very nations which
\nshout loudest about the virtues of democracy many people don\u2019t even bother to vote anymore;
\nthey feel it doesn\u2019t actually make any difference to their lives as most decisions are made by an
\nelite of powerful politicians and business people.
\nRepresentative democracies Power and decision making is taken away from
\nordinary people when they vote for leaders \u2013handing over power to make decisions to a
\nsmall elite with completely different interests from their own. Being allowed to
\nvote 20 times in a lifetime for an MP or senator is a poor substitute for having the power ourselves to make the decisions that affect every aspect of our lives.
\nIn any case, there are many areas of society where democratic principles have little influence. Most institutions and workplaces are entirely hierarchical \u2013
\nTroubleshooting and employees don\u2019t usually get a chance to vote their superiors into office or have any decision making power in the places where they spend the greatest part of their lives. Or consider the supermarket chain muscling its way into a town against the will of local people. Most areas of society are ruled by power, status and money, not through democracy.
\nWhat\u2019s wrong with voting?
\nCompared to this, working in a small group where everyone votes directly on important
\nissues may feel like having democratic control. However, voting creates a majority and a
\nminority \u2013 a situation in which there are winners and losers. If most people support an idea then it
\nwill be voted in, and the concerns of the people who opposed it can be ignored. This situation
\ncan foster conflict and distrust as the \u2018losers\u2019 feel disempowered by the process. The will of the majority is seen as the will of the whole group, with the minority expected to accept and carry out the decision, even if it is against their deeply held convictions and most basic needs. A majority will find it easy to steam roll an idea over a dissenting minority rather than looking for another solution that would suit all.
\nPeople might sometimes choose to bow to the will of the majority, but, in a voting system, when people constantly find themselves in a minority they lose control over their own lives. A vivid example is the imprisonment, in many European \u2018democracies\u2019, of those refusing military service.
\nIt\u2019s true that majority voting enables even controversial decisions to be taken in a minimum
\namount of time, but that doesn\u2019t mean to say that this decision will be a wise one, or even
\nmorally acceptable. After all, at one time, the majority of Europeans and North Americans
\nsupported the \u2018right\u2019 to hold slaves. The alternatives are already here
\n\u201cWe have these moments of non\u00accapitalist, non\u00accoercive, non\u00achierarchical interaction in our lives
\nconstantly, and these are the times when we most enjoy the company of others, when we get the
\nmost out of other people; but somehow it doesn\u2019t occur to us to demand that our society work this
\nway.\u201d
\nMany people accept the idea that voting is the \u2018normal\u2019 way of having democratic control over
\nThe decisions that affect us \u2013 after all, it is often presented to us as the only possibility out there.
\nHowever, a rejection of voting is nothing new. Many people struggling for social change have recognised that changing the way we make decisions is key to creating a different society. If we are
\nfighting for a better society where everyone has control over their own life, where everyone has equal, access to power, where it\u2019s possible for everyone to follow their interests and fulfil their needs,
\nthen, we need to develop alternative processes for making decisions; processes that recognise everyone\u2019s right to self\u00acdetemination that encourage mutual aid and replace competition with co-operation.
\nThe alternatives to the current system are already here, growing in the gaps between the paving
\nstones of state authority and corporate control. We only need to learn to recognise them for the seedlings of the different kind of society that they are. Homeless people occupying empty houses and
\nturning them into collective homes, workers buying out the businesses they work for and running
\nthem on equitable terms, gardening groups growing vegetables collectively; once we start looking
\nthere are hundreds of examples of co-operative organising that we encounter in our daily lives. Many
\nof these organise through varying forms of consensus decision making.
\nWhy use consensus?
\nNo one is more qualified than you to decide what your life will be.
\nConsensus decision making is based on the idea that people should have full control over their
\nlives and that power should be shared by all rather than concentrated in the hands of a few.
\nIt implies wide ranging liberty, including the freedom to decide one\u2019s own course in life and the right toplay an equal role in forging a common future. As well as wanting to enjoy as much freedom as possible, most of us wish to live in, and are dependent on, some form of society. This means finding ways to balance the needs and desires of every individual with those of the closer
\ncommunity and the wider world.
\nConsensus decision making aims to provide away of doing this. It builds on respect, trust, co\u00acoperation and mutual aid to achieve agreeable solutions for everyone concerned.
\nAt the heart of consensus is a respectful dialogue between equals. It\u2019s about helping groups to
\nwork together to meet both the individual\u2019s and the group\u2019s needs. It\u2019s about how to work
\nwith each other rather than for or against each other, something that requires openness and trust.
\nConsensus is looking for \u2018win\u00acwin\u2019 solutions that are acceptable to all, with the direct benefit that
\neveryone agrees with the final decision, resulting in a greater commitment to actually turning it
\ninto reality. In consensus every person has the power to make changes in the group they are working in \u2013and to prevent changes they find unacceptable.
\nThe right to block a decision means that minorities cannot just be ignored, but solutions will have to be found to deal with their concerns. No decision will be made against the will of an individual or a minority, instead the group constantly adapts to all its member\u2019s needs.
\nConsensus is about active participation and sharing power equally. This makes it a powerful
\ntool not only for empowering individuals, but also for bringing people together and building
\ncommunities. Consensus Decision Making
\nWho uses consensus?
\nConsensus is not a new idea. Variations of consensus have been tested and proven around the world and through time.
\nOn the American continent non-hierarchical societies have existed for hundreds of years.
\nBefore 1600, five nations \u2013 the Cayuga, Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, and Seneca \u2013
\nformed the Haudenosaunee Confederation, which works on a consensual basis and is still in existence today.
\nThere are also many examples of successful and stable utopian communes using consensus decision making such as the Christian Herrnh\u00fcter settlement 1741-1760 and the production commune Boimondeau in France 1941-1972.
\nChristiania, an autonomous district in the city of Copenhagen has been self-governed byits inhabitants since 1971.
\nWithin the co-operative movement many housing co-ops and social enterprises use
\nconsensus successfully: prominent examples include Green City, a whole-food wholesaler
\nbased in Scotland; and Radical Routes, a network of housing co-ops and workers\u2019 co-ops
\nin the UK.
\nThe business meetings of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) use consensus
\nto integrate the insights of each individual, arriving at the best possible approximation of
\nthe Truth.
\nPolitical and social activists such as many anarchists and others working for peace, the
\nenvironment and social justice commonly regard consensus to be essential to their work.
\nThey believe that the methods for achieving change need to match their goals and
\nvisions of a free, non-violent, egalitarian society. In protests around the world many
\nmass actions and protest camps involving several thousand people have been organised
\nand carried out using consensus, including the 1999 \u2018Battle of Seattle\u2019 World Trade
\nOrganisation protest, the 2005 G8 summit protests in Scotland and the Camps for
\nClimate Action in the UK, Germany, Australia, Nether
\nlands and other countries.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Consensus Decision Making Consensus decision making is a creative and dynamic way of reaching agreement between all members of a group. Instead of simply voting for an item and having the majority of the group getting their way, a group using consensus is committed to finding solutions that everyone actively supports, or at least can […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[19],"class_list":["post-107892","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorised","tag-english"],"translation":{"provider":"WPGlobus","version":"2.12.2","language":"no","enabled_languages":["gb","es","fr","pt","ru","no","ar"],"languages":{"gb":{"title":true,"content":true,"excerpt":false},"es":{"title":false,"content":false,"excerpt":false},"fr":{"title":false,"content":false,"excerpt":false},"pt":{"title":false,"content":false,"excerpt":false},"ru":{"title":false,"content":false,"excerpt":false},"no":{"title":false,"content":false,"excerpt":false},"ar":{"title":false,"content":false,"excerpt":false}}},"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/footballagainstapartheid.org\/no\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/107892"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/footballagainstapartheid.org\/no\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/footballagainstapartheid.org\/no\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/footballagainstapartheid.org\/no\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/footballagainstapartheid.org\/no\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=107892"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/footballagainstapartheid.org\/no\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/107892\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/footballagainstapartheid.org\/no\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=107892"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/footballagainstapartheid.org\/no\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=107892"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/footballagainstapartheid.org\/no\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=107892"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}