Once the standard is full consensus, you can find politics adjust accordingly. That said, when a situation grows dire and the mechanics of elections no longer deliver beneficial reforms, people resort to politics by other means.

The purpose of a democracy is to diffuse tensions and cultivate a placid population. Stricter standards for advancing reform allow more people to feel included, but they also inhibit more radical change.

When too many people no longer have faith in the Democratic institutions, that's when you start seeing real social upheaval. And that can happen in both high consensus and low consensus models.