>"In the past, it had always been clear that if there were a decision to be made about a change in the language or an improved feature, a whole bunch of core developers would discuss the pros and cons of the thing. Either a clear consensus would appear or, if it was not so clear, I would mull it over in my head and decide one way or another. With PEP572, even though it was clearly controversial, I chose 'Yes, I want to do this', and people didn't agree to disagree.<p>This is a characteristically practical, effective Dutch attitude, known as the "Polder Model". The United States currently suffers from the opposite problem of extreme partisanship and gridlock.<p><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polder_model" rel="nofollow">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polder_model</a><p>The polder model (Dutch: poldermodel) is consensus decision-making, based on the acclaimed Dutch version of consensus-based economic and social policy making in the 1980s and 1990s.<p>The polder model has been described as "a pragmatic recognition of pluriformity" and "cooperation despite differences". It is thought that the Dutch politician Ina Brouwer was the first to use the term poldermodel, in her 1990 article "Het socialisme als poldermodel?" (Socialism as polder model?), although it is uncertain whether she coined the term or simply seems to have been the first to write it down.<p>[...] Other uses<p>The term polder model and especially the verb polderen (to polder) has been used pejoratively by some politicians to describe the slow decision-making process where all parties have to be heard. The model flourished under the "Purple" governments of Dutch prime minister Wim Kok, a coalition including the traditional rivals the Labour Party (a social-democratic party, whose colour is red) and the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (right-wing liberals, whose colour is blue). In the declining economic climate of the early 21st century the model came under fierce attack particularly from right-wing politicians and Pim Fortuyn in his book entitled De puinhopen van acht jaar Paars ("The wreckage of eight years Purple").<p>Historical background<p>[...] A third explanation refers to a unique aspect of the Netherlands, that it consists in large part of polders, land reclaimed from the sea, which requires constant pumping and maintenance of the dykes. So ever since the Middle Ages, when the process of land reclamation began, different societies living in the same polder have been forced to cooperate because without unanimous agreement on shared responsibility for maintenance of the dykes and pumping stations, the polders would have flooded and everyone would have suffered. Crucially, even when different cities in the same polder were at war, they still had to cooperate in this respect. This is thought to have taught the Dutch to set aside differences for a greater purpose.