Werkstatt für Gewaltfreie Aktion — Konsens-Handbuch
Summary
A German-language free PDF handbook on consensus decision-making for small and very large groups, published by the Werkstatt für Gewaltfreie Aktion (WfGA — Workshop for Nonviolent Action), the German national training collective in the Quaker / nonviolent-action lineage; covers the procedure, consensus stages, moderation, and a method library of exercises.
Body
The Konsens-Handbuch is the German-language reference handbook on consensus decision-making in small affinity groups and large spokescouncils, published by the Werkstatt für Gewaltfreie Aktion, a Baden-Württemberg training collective in the German pacifist / nonviolent-action tradition. The handbook is built around the method-based pedagogy that defines WfGA’s training practice: each section pairs the formal procedure (consensus stages from proposal to blocks and stand-asides, the role of the moderator, the rules for amending, the discipline of working without a vote) with a structured exercise that the facilitator can run with a group. The book distinguishes Konsens (substantive agreement) from Konsent (consent — “I can live with this”) and walks through when each applies. Specific attention is given to the Strukturkonsens (structural consent) used by mass movements: when several hundred people need to make a decision together, the spokescouncil method, the delegation of mandates, and the discipline of returning to the group with the decision rather than merely consulting them. The handbook also covers the Moderationszyklus (moderation cycle) for facilitating a consensus meeting from opening check-in to closing evaluation, including the energy-management, conflict-resolution, and time-keeping techniques. The free PDF is the working corpus of the German-language consensus training tradition and is referenced by virtually every German-language training collective (XR-DE, BfGA, Verdi training teams, Fridays-for-Future regional chapters). Treat as link-only — paraphrase, link out to the PDF for verbatim scripts [source: wfga-konsens-handbuch].
Use it for
Training a group in the formal consensus procedure; facilitating a consensus meeting from check-in to evaluation; running a spokescouncil for a mass-movement decision; resolving a substantive disagreement without falling back to a vote; structuring a multi-stakeholder workshop around consent rather than majority.
Related
- affinity-groups
- coalition-building
- constructive-programme
- distributed-organizing
- framing-and-narrative
- leadership-development
- one-to-ones
- public-narrative
Open Questions
None yet — the canonical PDF is the wfga.de-hosted free edition, well-established in the German-language training canon.
Sources & verification
- sources/wfga-konsens-handbuch — grounding: primary — RAW wfga.de host confirmed (200 OK; 209 KB HTML).