Democracy by Consensus: Some Conceptual Considerations

Philosophical Papers 30 (3):227-244 (2001)
  Copy   BIBTEX

Abstract

Abstract Democracy as a political system entailing multi-party competition for power is only one form of democracy. Given that democracy is government by consent, the question is whether a less adversarial system than the party system, which is bound up with majoritarian decision-making, cannot be devised. This paper contends that a system based on consensus as a decision procedure would be a democracy of just such a description. It is important to note that the kind of consensus envisaged here is not agreement regarding questions of truth and morality; it is concerned only with the question of what is to be done. And it is an important fact that reasonable human beings can come to an agreement about what is to be done by virtue of compromise without agreeing on issues of truth or morality. A consensual system will naturally be a non-party arrangement. However, as I explain, such a polity need not be one without parties

Links

PhilArchive



    Upload a copy of this work     Papers currently archived: 90,221

External links

Setup an account with your affiliations in order to access resources via your University's proxy server

Through your library

Similar books and articles

Consensus and power in deliberative democracy.Tim6 Heysse - 2006 - Inquiry: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Philosophy 49 (3):265 – 289.
Philosophy, politics, democracy: selected essays.Joshua Cohen - 2009 - Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press.
Cooperation, competition, and democracy.Shaomeng Li - 2011 - Frontiers of Philosophy in China 6 (2):273-283.
The Phenomenology of Democracy.Robert Keith Shaw - 2009 - Policy Futures in Education 7 (3):340-348.
Possibilities of consensus: Toward democratic moral discourse.Bruce Jennings - 1991 - Journal of Medicine and Philosophy 16 (4):447-463.
Popular Sovereignty.Jitendra Nath Sarker - 2008 - Proceedings of the Xxii World Congress of Philosophy 50:711-719.
一切人文知识的根本根据是什么.Dongkai Li - 2008 - Proceedings of the Xxii World Congress of Philosophy 53:383-391.
A critique of pragmatism and deliberative democracy.Thom Brooks - 2009 - Transactions of the Charles S. Peirce Society 45 (1):pp. 50-54.

Analytics

Added to PP
2010-08-24

Downloads
339 (#53,699)

6 months
16 (#108,893)

Historical graph of downloads
How can I increase my downloads?