Consensus: group decision-making & community organizing #7

 Global consensus vs local conflict

There are many topics that many claim to have achieved global consensus: human rights, ban on chlorofluorocarbons, outlawing slavery, fighting global climate chaos, and many more, including sustainable development.

But is there actual consensus? If the appearance of consensus exists, how was it achieved? Is there undue influence by monied parties exerting economic pressure, militarily dominant nations or coalitions effectively forcing "agreement" or other inauthentic consensus practices? Was some of the consensus achieved by relatively small numbers of powerful parties long ago and challenges are increasing due to the objections of those parties not consulted or otherwise shut aside in the name of declaring universal acceptance? Consensus decision-making timelines are often quite different from majority-rule or top-down methods, and thus there are also questions about the time devoted to achieving the claim of consensus being adequate or not.

This critique of claim of consensus will either be acknowledged and revisited with inclusivity and an improved process or destructive conflict may emerge, as it has in several cases, including a declaration of human rights by Muslim-majority countries that means to supplant the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. It is also emerging in the assertion of consensus around sustainable development as a function of local values and practices (Leach, Mearns & Scoones, 2025).

References

Leach, M., Mearns, R., & Scoones, I. (2025). Editorial: Community-Based Sustainable Development: Consensus or Conflict? IDS Bulletin, 56(1A), 1–3. https://doi-org.proxy.lib.pdx.edu/10.19088/1968-2025.104