Time for a broad national consensus

Difference of opinion is the very essence of democracy, but in increasingly complex times, various countries also need to create a consensus on issues of great concern for all their people.

- BHARAT DOGRA

Difference of opinion is the very essence of democracy, but in increasingly complex times, various countries also need to create a consensus on issues of great concern for all their people. This can help to ensure that while robust and lively democratic debates continue, people also learn to work together to protect important national interests, as this too is an important democratic task and responsibility.

Mass distress suffered by a large number of people entangled helplessly in conflict situations in some countries should awaken people everywhere, particularly in the global south, to the increasing urgency of avoiding conflict by securing unity and consensus on common concerns.

The clearest example of such distress can be seen today in Sudan and South Sudan. This is a region blessed with considerable natural wealth, and so people could have prospered with peaceful living. However, natural wealth also attracted foreign powers which were more interested in aggravating conflicts for their own ends. Hence, instead of resolving conflicts with a sense of unity, such conditions were created that a big part of Sudan with most oil deposits (and with a different religious base) seceded to form the new country of South Sudan.

But did this solve any problems? Soon, civil war also erupted in South Sudan. This continued for a long time. However, even after an uncertain peace had prevailed for some time, ethnic and other tensions appear to be erupting again.