The Origins of Collective Decision Making

Andy Blunden's The Origins of Collective Decision Making is the first examination and investigation into counsel, majoritarianism, and consensus, the three principal methods and procedures by which groups come to an accord that is accepted by and acted upon by the greatest possible number of participants. He shows the millennial roots of majoritarianism, demonstrating the ethical roots of all three methods. He demonstrates majoritarianism's presence during the English Revolution of the 1640s and follows its development into the English working-class movement. Debunking previously made claims, Blunden shows that consensus originated in the 1930s in the United States with Myles Horton's Highlander School, through which it became a key principle of the civil rights movement via the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) and then of the antiwar and feminist movement through Women Strike for Peace. The first book of its kind, The Origins of Collective Decision Making is an invaluable resource.