I find that your vassals really want to increase council power, especially at the beginning of a new character's reign, even if they are very happy with your rule. As such the best idea would be to give them what they want. Increase council power for things you'll rarely use, like banishment and executions. That way they'll be less likely to want to revolt and increase council power. Obviously it's not the perfect solution, but it is better than constant rebellions...
I'm not giving them any council power. I like being able to declare wars when I want. And it's expensive trying to pass laws I want when I need to bribe everyone into it.
Yeah, I punish the Councillors, no matter how much they
claim to like me. Revolt, revoke, now they're not councillors and they're weaker. Obviously, if they
truly liked me as much as they claim to like me, they won't be stinking rebels.
That is rather true. I still never had much of a problem with councils with declaring wars and stuff.
I have problems sometimes telling
why the council won't let me declare war. If I understood that better, I'd just wage the type of wars they want me to wage. Unless I can't, then probably wait till the vote comes around and bribe them into repealing the War law.
EDIT: Yes, I know they look at Pragmatic (weaker realms), Glory (stronger realms), and Religious (wars that increase moral authority), but it isn't always that clear to me. And it would be nice to see that it was working as intended and not flawed like things often are...
EDIT2: Fun fact: I've logged 664 hours in Crusader Kings 2, and still not explored everything. Last time I played Muslims was prior to their changes to the decadence system, and its been ages since I've played a Patrician. And I still haven't played nomads to any great degree.