A consensual democracy according to Lijphart is a democracy in which decision making is done through a consensus in legislation. Elements of this can be found throughout the world in countries such as the United States or even in countries that are considered to be “majoritarian” countries, such as the United Kingdom or France. Even though elements of this are present in these countries, the country of Germany is the perfect example to demonstrate what a consensual democracy looks like. Out of these four major world powers, Germany is the most consensual country. There are nine different things that make up a consensual democratic system. These are: having executive power-sharing or multi-party coalitions; having a balance of power between
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What makes the legislature one of the most consensual of all other countries is the fact that unlike in the United States where only two-parties are generally represented in legislation, Germany has a multi-party system where a proportional amount of a party that is voted for ends up being part of legislation. For example if 40 percent of votes went to the Christian Democratic Union Party (CDU) then that would mean 40 percent of the legislature would be made up of people from that party. Since the way the country of Germany is set up electorally is as a Mixed-Member Proportional system, it would be very unlike for only a single party to get 40 percent of the votes since there are many smaller parties that still get seats in a consensual system. One other aspects that a consensual model has that Germany also possesses would be the concept of balance between the Legislative and Executive parts of the government. This is very balanced in the German system since the Chancellor has a lot of power and they did not want something like what happened during World War II to happen again, they made it so that the Chancellor does not have the power to “dissolve the legislature and call for new elections” (Pearson Custom Library, pg. 117) as is possible in a parliamentary system such as the United Kingdom or in Canada. …show more content…
This is another aspect of consensual democracy that Germany strives in whereas the United States is not the same. In Germany sometimes interest groups even take on the approach of being a form of government. Representatives of certain interest groups are occasionally summoned to express their views on certain issues. For example the German government wanted to reconstruct the steel industry. Instead of only listening to the opinions of other legislators, the government went to representatives of that specific interest group to come up with a solution and listen to their opinions. Since this is the case, the general public also gets involved in the decision-making process rather than just the elected government officials (Pearson Custom Library, pg.
What makes the legislature one of the most consensual of all other countries is the fact that unlike in the United States where only two-parties are generally represented in legislation, Germany has a multi-party system where a proportional amount of a party that is voted for ends up being part of legislation. For example if 40 percent of votes went to the Christian Democratic Union Party (CDU) then that would mean 40 percent of the legislature would be made up of people from that party. Since the way the country of Germany is set up electorally is as a Mixed-Member Proportional system, it would be very unlike for only a single party to get 40 percent of the votes since there are many smaller parties that still get seats in a consensual system. One other aspects that a consensual model has that Germany also possesses would be the concept of balance between the Legislative and Executive parts of the government. This is very balanced in the German system since the Chancellor has a lot of power and they did not want something like what happened during World War II to happen again, they made it so that the Chancellor does not have the power to “dissolve the legislature and call for new elections” (Pearson Custom Library, pg. 117) as is possible in a parliamentary system such as the United Kingdom or in Canada. …show more content…
This is another aspect of consensual democracy that Germany strives in whereas the United States is not the same. In Germany sometimes interest groups even take on the approach of being a form of government. Representatives of certain interest groups are occasionally summoned to express their views on certain issues. For example the German government wanted to reconstruct the steel industry. Instead of only listening to the opinions of other legislators, the government went to representatives of that specific interest group to come up with a solution and listen to their opinions. Since this is the case, the general public also gets involved in the decision-making process rather than just the elected government officials (Pearson Custom Library, pg.