60-450: For extinct and prehistoric species, see article text Coots are medium-sized water birds that are members of the rail family , Rallidae . They constitute the genus Fulica , the name being the Latin term for "coot". Coots have predominantly black plumage , and—unlike many rails—they are usually easy to see, often swimming in open water. The genus Fulica was introduced in 1758 by
120-527: A consensus was reached"). Consensus decision-making, as a self-described practice, originates from several nonviolent , direct action groups that were active in the Civil rights , Peace and Women's movements in the USA during counterculture of the 1960s . The practice gained popularity in the 1970s through the anti-nuclear movement, and peaked in popularity in the early 1980s. Consensus spread abroad through
180-404: A decision rule . Diversity of opinion is normal in most all situations, and will be represented proportionately in an appropriately functioning group. Even with goodwill and social awareness, citizens are likely to disagree in their political opinions and judgments. Differences of interest as well as of perception and values will lead the citizens to divergent views about how to direct and use
240-424: A group decision-making process in which participants develop and decide on proposals with the goal of achieving broad acceptance, defined by its terms as form of consensus . The focus on establishing agreement of at least the majority or the supermajority and avoiding unproductive opinion differentiates consensus from unanimity , which requires all participants to support a decision. Consensus decision-making in
300-479: A musyawarah consensus-building process in which parties mediate to find peace and avoid future hostility and revenge. The resulting agreements are expected to be followed, and range from advice and warnings to compensation and exile. The origins of formal consensus -making can be traced significantly further back, to the Religious Society of Friends , or Quakers, who adopted the technique as early as
360-417: A systemic bias , a rigged process (where an agenda is not published in advance or changed when it becomes clear who is present to consent), fear of speaking one's mind, a lack of creativity (to suggest alternatives) or even a lack of courage (to go further along the same road to a more extreme solution that would not achieve unanimous consent). Unanimity is achieved when the full group apparently consents to
420-542: A 75% supermajority to finalize its decisions, potentially as early as 1142. In the Xulu and Xhosa (South African) process of indaba , community leaders gather to listen to the public and negotiate figurative thresholds towards an acceptable compromise. The technique was also used during the 2015 United Nations Climate Change Conference . In Aceh and Nias cultures (Indonesian), family and regional disputes, from playground fights to estate inheritance, are handled through
480-622: A Japanese company, they had to discuss the idea with everyone even the janitor, yet once a decision was made the Americans found the Japanese were able to act much quicker because everyone was on board, while the Americans had to struggle with internal opposition. Outside of Western culture, multiple other cultures have used consensus decision-making. One early example is the Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) Confederacy Grand Council , which used
540-539: A decision. It has disadvantages insofar as further disagreement, improvements or better ideas then remain hidden, but effectively ends the debate moving it to an implementation phase. Some consider all unanimity a form of groupthink, and some experts propose "coding systems ... for detecting the illusion of unanimity symptom". In Consensus is not Unanimity , long-time progressive change activist Randy Schutt writes: Many people think of consensus as simply an extended voting method in which everyone must cast their votes
600-445: A democracy is consensus democracy . The word consensus is Latin meaning "agreement, accord", derived from consentire meaning "feel together". A noun, consensus can represent a generally accepted opinion – "general agreement or concord; harmony", "a majority of opinion" – or the outcome of a consensus decision-making process. This article refers to the process and the outcome (e.g. "to decide by consensus" and "
660-492: A diversity of thought. The facilitator is understood as serving the group rather than acting as person-in-charge. In the Quaker model, as with other consensus decision-making processes, articulating the emerging consensus allows members to be clear on the decision in front of them. As members' views are taken into account they are likely to support it. The consensus decision-making process often has several roles designed to make
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#1732790454725720-446: A fall-back method to strategically incentivize consensus over blocking. However, this makes it very difficult to tell the difference between those who support the decision and those who merely tactically tolerate it for the incentive. Once they receive that incentive, they may undermine or refuse to implement the agreement in various and non-obvious ways. In general voting systems avoid allowing offering incentives (or "bribes") to change
780-526: A heartfelt vote. In the Abilene paradox , a group can unanimously agree on a course of action that no individual member of the group desires because no one individual is willing to go against the perceived will of the decision-making body. Since consensus decision-making focuses on discussion and seeks the input of all participants, it can be a time-consuming process. This is a potential liability in situations where decisions must be made speedily, or where it
840-554: A lack of widespread consensus within the scientific community for extended periods. The continual publication of new data and diverse opinions plays a crucial role in facilitating adjustments and ultimately reaching a consensus over time. The naming of families is codified by various international bodies using the following suffixes: The taxonomic term familia was first used by French botanist Pierre Magnol in his Prodromus historiae generalis plantarum, in quo familiae plantarum per tabulas disponuntur (1689) where he called
900-791: A matter and reformulating it until no objections remained". This way of working was brought to the SNCC at its formation by the Nashville student group , who had received nonviolence training from James Lawson and Myles Horton at the Highlander Folk School . However, as the SNCC faced growing internal and external pressure toward the mid-1960s, it developed into a more hierarchical structure, eventually abandoning consensus. Women Strike for Peace (WSP) are also accounted as independently used consensus from their founding in 1961. Eleanor Garst (herself influenced by Quakers) introduced
960-399: A mechanical method for verifying such consensus, apparently in the belief that any such codification leads to attempts to " game the system ." Instead, a working group (WG) chair or BoF chair is supposed to articulate the "sense of the group." One tradition in support of rough consensus is the tradition of humming rather than (countable) hand-raising; this allows a group to quickly discern
1020-471: A mechanism for dealing with disagreements. The Quaker model has been adapted by Earlham College for application to secular settings, and can be effectively applied in any consensus decision-making process. Its process includes: Key components of Quaker-based consensus include a belief in a common humanity and the ability to decide together. The goal is "unity, not unanimity." Ensuring that group members speak only once until others are heard encourages
1080-424: A symbol of strength. In his book about Misplaced Pages, Joseph Reagle considers the merits and challenges of consensus in open and online communities. Randy Schutt, Starhawk and other practitioners of direct action focus on the hazards of apparent agreement followed by action in which group splits become dangerously obvious. Unanimous, or apparently unanimous, decisions can have drawbacks. They may be symptoms of
1140-465: A way that assures that "everyone must be heard". The Modified Borda Count voting method has been advocated as more 'consensual' than majority voting, by, among others, by Ramón Llull in 1199, by Nicholas Cusanus in 1435, by Jean-Charles de Borda in 1784, by Hother Hage in 1860, by Charles Dodgson (Lewis Carroll) in 1884, and by Peter Emerson in 1986. Japanese companies normally use consensus decision-making, meaning that unanimous support on
1200-425: Is a guide book used by many organizations. This book on Parliamentary Procedure allows the structuring of debate and passage of proposals that can be approved through a form of majority vote. It does not emphasize the goal of full agreement. Critics of such a process believe that it can involve adversarial debate and the formation of competing factions. These dynamics may harm group member relationships and undermine
1260-499: Is commonly referred to as the "walnut family". The delineation of what constitutes a family— or whether a described family should be acknowledged— is established and decided upon by active taxonomists . There are not strict regulations for outlining or acknowledging a family, yet in the realm of plants, these classifications often rely on both the vegetative and reproductive characteristics of plant species. Taxonomists frequently hold varying perspectives on these descriptions, leading to
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#17327904547251320-406: Is done, this coercive process is not consensus. Confusion between unanimity and consensus, in other words, usually causes consensus decision-making to fail, and the group then either reverts to majority or supermajority rule or disbands. Most robust models of consensus exclude uniformly unanimous decisions and require at least documentation of minority concerns. Some state clearly that unanimity
1380-429: Is not consensus but rather evidence of intimidation, lack of imagination, lack of courage, failure to include all voices, or deliberate exclusion of the contrary views. Some proponents of consensus decision-making view procedures that use majority rule as undesirable for several reasons. Majority voting is regarded as competitive , rather than cooperative , framing decision-making in a win/lose dichotomy that ignores
1440-438: Is not possible to canvass opinions of all delegates in a reasonable time. Additionally, the time commitment required to engage in the consensus decision-making process can sometimes act as a barrier to participation for individuals unable or unwilling to make the commitment. However, once a decision has been reached it can be acted on more quickly than a decision handed down. American businessmen complained that in negotiations with
1500-485: Is one of the eight major hierarchical taxonomic ranks in Linnaean taxonomy . It is classified between order and genus . A family may be divided into subfamilies , which are intermediate ranks between the ranks of family and genus. The official family names are Latin in origin; however, popular names are often used: for example, walnut trees and hickory trees belong to the family Juglandaceae , but that family
1560-690: Is still observed that defies factional explanations. Nearly 40% of the decisions of the United States Supreme Court , for example, are unanimous, though often for widely varying reasons. "Consensus in Supreme Court voting, particularly the extreme consensus of unanimity, has often puzzled Court observers who adhere to ideological accounts of judicial decision making." Historical evidence is mixed on whether particular Justices' views were suppressed in favour of public unity. Heitzig and Simmons (2012) suggest using random selection as
1620-466: The Genera Plantarum of George Bentham and Joseph Dalton Hooker this word ordo was used for what now is given the rank of family. Families serve as valuable units for evolutionary, paleontological, and genetic studies due to their relatively greater stability compared to lower taxonomic levels like genera and species. Consensus decision-making Consensus is built by
1680-473: The A16 Washington D.C. protests in 2000 , affinity groups disputed their spokescouncil's imposition of nonviolence in their action guidelines. They received the reprieve of letting groups self-organize their protests, and as the city's protest was subsequently divided into pie slices, each blockaded by an affinity group's choice of protest. Many of the participants learned about the spokescouncil model on
1740-536: The S11 (World Economic Forum protest) in 2000 to do so too. Consensus was used at the first Camp for Climate Action (2006) and subsequent camps. Occupy Wall Street (2011) made use of consensus in combination with techniques such as the people's microphone and hand signals . Characteristics of consensus decision-making include: Consensus decision-making is an alternative to commonly practiced group decision-making processes. Robert's Rules of Order , for instance,
1800-581: The Vietnam War , Lawrence Scott started A Quaker Action Group (AQAG) in 1966 to try and encourage activism within the Quakers. By 1971 AQAG members felt they needed not only to end the war, but transform civil society as a whole, and renamed AQAG to MNS. MNS members used consensus decision-making from the beginning as a non-religious adaptation of the Quaker decision-making they were used to. MNS trained
1860-405: The anti-globalization and climate movements, and has become normalized in anti-authoritarian spheres in conjunction with affinity groups and ideas of participatory democracy and prefigurative politics . The Movement for a New Society (MNS) has been credited for popularizing consensus decision-making. Unhappy with the inactivity of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) against
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1920-428: The spokescouncil model, affinity groups make joint decisions by each designating a speaker and sitting behind that circle of spokespeople, akin to the spokes of a wheel. While speaking rights might be limited to each group's designee, the meeting may allot breakout time for the constituent groups to discuss an issue and return to the circle via their spokesperson. In the case of an activist spokescouncil preparing for
1980-616: The 17th century. Anabaptists , including some Mennonites , have a history of using consensus decision-making and some believe Anabaptists practiced consensus as early as the Martyrs' Synod of 1527. Some Christians trace consensus decision-making back to the Bible. The Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia references, in particular, Acts 15 as an example of consensus in the New Testament. The lack of legitimate consensus process in
2040-614: The Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in the tenth edition of his Systema Naturae . The genus name is the Latin word for a Eurasian coot . The name was used by the Swiss naturalist Conrad Gessner in 1555. The type species is the Eurasian coot. A group of coots are referred to as a covert or cover . The genus contains 10 extant species and one which is now extinct. Coots have prominent frontal shields or other decoration on
2100-408: The ability of a group to cooperatively implement a contentious decision. Consensus decision-making attempts to address the beliefs of such problems. Proponents claim that outcomes of the consensus process include: Consensus is not synonymous with unanimity – though that may be a rule agreed to in a specific decision-making process. The level of agreement necessary to finalize a decision is known as
2160-612: The anti-nuclear Clamshell Alliance (1976) and Abalone Alliance (1977) to use consensus, and in 1977 published Resource Manual for a Living Revolution , which included a section on consensus. An earlier account of consensus decision-making comes from the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), the main student organization of the civil rights movement , founded in 1960. Early SNCC member Mary King , later reflected: "we tried to make all decisions by consensus ... it meant discussing
2220-490: The board of directors is sought for any decision. A ringi-sho is a circulation document used to obtain agreement. It must first be signed by the lowest level manager, and then upwards, and may need to be revised and the process started over. In the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF), decisions are assumed to be taken by rough consensus . The IETF has studiously refrained from defining
2280-466: The breeding season, but are otherwise often found in sizeable flocks on the shallow vegetated lakes they prefer. Chick mortality occurs mainly due to starvation rather than predation as coots have difficulty feeding a large family of hatchlings on the tiny shrimp and insects that they collect. Many chicks die in the first 10 days after hatching, when they are most dependent on adults for food. Coots can be very brutal to their own young under pressure such as
2340-462: The debate. When all agree, the chair calls for a preferential vote, as per the rules for a Modified Borda Count. The referees decide which option, or which composite of the two leading options, is the outcome. If its level of support surpasses a minimum consensus coefficient, it may be adopted. Groups that require unanimity commonly use a core set of procedures depicted in this flow chart. Once an agenda for discussion has been set and, optionally,
2400-508: The decision. Members of a minority position may feel less commitment to a majority decision, and even majority voters who may have taken their positions along party or bloc lines may have a sense of reduced responsibility for the ultimate decision. The result of this reduced commitment, according to many consensus proponents, is potentially less willingness to defend or act upon the decision. Majority voting cannot measure consensus. Indeed,—so many 'for' and so many 'against'—it measures
2460-521: The facilitator calling for proposals. Every proposed option is accepted if the referees decide it is relevant and conforms with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights . The referees produce and display a list of these options. The debate proceeds, with queries, comments, criticisms and/or even new options. If the debate fails to come to a verbal consensus, the referees draw up a final list of options - usually between 4 and 6 - to represent
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2520-540: The family as a rank intermediate between order and genus was introduced by Pierre André Latreille in his Précis des caractères génériques des insectes, disposés dans un ordre naturel (1796). He used families (some of them were not named) in some but not in all his orders of "insects" (which then included all arthropods ). In nineteenth-century works such as the Prodromus of Augustin Pyramus de Candolle and
2580-478: The fly by participating in it directly, and came to better understand their planned action by hearing others' concerns and voicing their own. In Designing an All-Inclusive Democracy (2007), Emerson proposes a consensus oriented approach based on the Modified Borda Count (MBC) voting method. The group first elects, say, three referees or consensors. The debate on the chosen problem is initiated by
2640-826: The forehead, with red to dark red eyes and coloured bills. Many have white on the under tail. The featherless shield gave rise to the expression "as bald as a coot", which the Oxford English Dictionary cites in use as early as 1430. Like other rails, they have long, lobed toes that are well adapted to soft, uneven surfaces. Coots have strong legs and can walk and run vigorously. They tend to have short, rounded wings and are weak fliers, though northern species nevertheless can cover long distances. They typically congregate in large rafts in open water. They are socially gregarious and messy aquatic feeders. The greatest species variety occurs in South America, and
2700-748: The genus likely originated there. They are common in Europe and North America. Coot species that migrate do so at night. The American coot has been observed rarely in Britain and Ireland, while the Eurasian coot is found across Asia, Australia and parts of Africa. In southern Louisiana, the coot is referred to by the French name "poule d'eau", which translates into English as "water hen". Coots are omnivorous, eating mainly plant material, but also small animals, fish and eggs. They are aggressively territorial during
2760-414: The ground rules for the meeting have been agreed upon, each item of the agenda is addressed in turn. Typically, each decision arising from an agenda item follows through a simple structure: Quaker -based consensus is said to be effective because it puts in place a simple, time-tested structure that moves a group towards unity. The Quaker model is intended to allow hearing individual voices while providing
2820-463: The group members in order to build the experience and skills of the participants, and prevent any perceived concentration of power. The common roles in a consensus meeting are: Critics of consensus blocking often observe that the option, while potentially effective for small groups of motivated or trained individuals with a sufficiently high degree of affinity , has a number of possible shortcomings, notably Consensus seeks to improve solidarity in
2880-494: The lack of food, and after about three days they start attacking their own chicks when they beg for food. After a short while, these attacks concentrate on the weaker chicks, who eventually give up begging and die. The coot may eventually raise only two or three out of nine hatchlings. In this attacking behaviour, the parents are said to "tousle" their young. This can result in the death of the chick. Family (biology) Family ( Latin : familia , pl. : familiae )
2940-470: The long run. Accordingly, it should not be confused with unanimity in the immediate situation, which is often a symptom of groupthink . Studies of effective consensus process usually indicate a shunning of unanimity or "illusion of unanimity" that does not hold up as a group comes under real-world pressure (when dissent reappears). Cory Doctorow , Ralph Nader and other proponents of deliberative democracy or judicial-like methods view explicit dissent as
3000-435: The option of blocking a group decision. This provision motivates a group to make sure that all group members consent to any new proposal before it is adopted. When there is potential for a block to a group decision, both the group and dissenters in the group are encouraged to collaborate until agreement can be reached. Simply vetoing a decision is not considered a responsible use of consensus blocking. Some common guidelines for
3060-439: The organized political power of the community, in order to promote and protect common interests. If political representatives reflect this diversity, then there will be as much disagreement in the legislature as there is in the population. To ensure the agreement or consent of all participants is valued, many groups choose unanimity or near-unanimity as their decision rule. Groups that require unanimity allow individual participants
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#17327904547253120-443: The possibility of compromise or other mutually beneficial solutions. Carlos Santiago Nino, on the other hand, has argued that majority rule leads to better deliberation practice than the alternatives, because it requires each member of the group to make arguments that appeal to at least half the participants. Some advocates of consensus would assert that a majority decision reduces the commitment of each individual decision-maker to
3180-481: The practice as part of the loose and participatory structure of WSP. As consensus grew in popularity, it became less clear who influenced who. Food Not Bombs , which started in 1980 in connection with an occupation of Seabrook Station Nuclear Power Plant organized by the Clamshell Alliance , adopted consensus for their organization. Consensus was used in the 1999 Seattle WTO protests , which inspired
3240-464: The process run more effectively. Although the name and nature of these roles varies from group to group, the most common are the facilitator , consensor , a timekeeper, an empath and a secretary or notes taker. Not all decision-making bodies use all of these roles, although the facilitator position is almost always filled, and some groups use supplementary roles, such as a Devil's advocate or greeter. Some decision-making bodies rotate these roles through
3300-510: The same way. Since unanimity of this kind rarely occurs in groups with more than one member, groups that try to use this kind of process usually end up being either extremely frustrated or coercive. Decisions are never made (leading to the demise of the group), they are made covertly, or some group or individual dominates the rest. Sometimes a majority dominates, sometimes a minority, sometimes an individual who employs "the Block." But no matter how it
3360-575: The seventy-six groups of plants he recognised in his tables families ( familiae ). The concept of rank at that time was not yet settled, and in the preface to the Prodromus Magnol spoke of uniting his families into larger genera , which is far from how the term is used today. In his work Philosophia Botanica published in 1751, Carl Linnaeus employed the term familia to categorize significant plant groups such as trees , herbs , ferns , palms , and so on. Notably, he restricted
3420-460: The unanimous conviction of Jesus by corrupt priests in an illegally held Sanhedrin court (which had rules preventing unanimous conviction in a hurried process) strongly influenced the views of pacifist Protestants, including the Anabaptists (Mennonites/Amish), Quakers and Shakers. In particular it influenced their distrust of expert-led courtrooms and to "be clear about process" and convene in
3480-409: The use of consensus blocking include: A participant who does not support a proposal may have alternatives to simply blocking it. Some common options may include the ability to: The basic model for achieving consensus as defined by any decision rule involves: All attempts at achieving consensus begin with a good faith attempt at generating full-agreement, regardless of decision rule threshold. In
3540-496: The use of this term solely within the book's morphological section, where he delved into discussions regarding the vegetative and generative aspects of plants. Subsequently, in French botanical publications, from Michel Adanson 's Familles naturelles des plantes (1763) and until the end of the 19th century, the word famille was used as a French equivalent of the Latin ordo (or ordo naturalis ). In zoology ,
3600-453: The very opposite, the degree of dissent. The Modified Borda Count has been put forward as a voting method which better approximates consensus. Some formal models based on graph theory attempt to explore the implications of suppressed dissent and subsequent sabotage of the group as it takes action. High-stakes decision-making, such as judicial decisions of appeals courts, always require some such explicit documentation. Consent however
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