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"Consent of the governed" is a phrase found in the 1776 United States Declaration of Independence, written by Thomas Jefferson.. Using thinking similar to that of John Locke, the founders of the United States believed in a state built upon the consent of "free and equal" citizens; a state otherwise conceived would lack legitimacy and rational-legal authority.
Consensus democracy [1] is the application of consensus decision-making and supermajority to the process of legislation in a democracy.It is characterized by a decision-making structure that involves and takes into account as broad a range of opinions as possible, as opposed to majoritarian democracy systems where minority opinions can potentially be ignored by vote-winning majorities. [2]
The word consensus is Latin meaning "agreement, accord", derived from consentire meaning "feel together". [2] A noun, consensus can represent a generally accepted opinion [3] – "general agreement or concord; harmony", "a majority of opinion" [4] – or the outcome of a consensus decision-making process.
High-trust societies display a high degree of mutual trust not imposed by outside "contractual, legal or hierarchical regulation", but instead are based upon "prior moral consensus". [1]
Although democracy is generally understood to be defined by voting, [1] [10] no consensus exists on a precise definition of democracy. [15] Karl Popper says that the "classical" view of democracy is, "in brief, the theory that democracy is the rule of the people and that the people have a right to rule". [16]
The Moral Constitution is a means of understanding the U.S. Constitution which emphasizes a fusion of moral philosophy and constitutional law. The most prominent proponent is Ronald Dworkin , who advances the view in Law's Empire and Freedom's Law: The Moral Reading of the American Constitution .
Brownson, [32] who argued that, in a sense, three "constitutions" are involved: first, the constitution of nature that includes all of what the Founders called "natural law"; second, the constitution of society, an unwritten and commonly understood set of rules for the society formed by a social contract before it establishes a government, by ...
Consensus government; Grand coalition ... formulations and presents a challenge to anyone looking for a clear definition. ... a moral justification for accumulating ...