Based on the analysis of the concept, essence and content of the term «consensus», the article suggests that it is quite appropriate to use it in the processes of practical management of territorial communities of Ukraine, which today urgently need to use innovative principles of public consensus formation in relation to solving the problems of their development. It is demonstrated that the issue of managing the processes of reaching consensus at the basic level of territorial communities of Ukrainian society has not been studied or researched at all. It is proved that the technology of consensus building requires consolidation of intellectual resources of the population of the territorial community, which, in turn, requires professional management based on the intellectualization of personnel and leadership in local self-government bodies. At the same time, the main tool for achieving consensus is the use by leaders and functionaries of the governing body of a constructive dialogue with the population, based on logic and rational assessments of realities, when the parties resolve all issues by coming to a common opinion and common agreement, which raises the problem of increasing the professionalism of governance on the basis of intellectual interaction, analytical thinking and creative approach to the adoption and implementation of management decisions based on the «dictatorship of reason» and the intellectual consensus of the leadership and the population. For this purpose, territorial communities should «...be governed not by the strongest, but by the smartest».
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