Recent BI and Substack Posts

Interesting readings for this week.

Our weekly set of posts on threats to democracy and how to respond to them effectively.

Conversation with D.G. Mawn about the National Association for Community Mediation and the work of the hundreds of member centers which have been helping resolve community conflicts for decades.

Video conversation with D.G. Mawn about the history and current activities of the National Association for Community Mediation and the work of the hundreds of member community mediation centers.

Colleague activities to strengthen democracy, and outside the field articles on democracy, polarization, and related issues.

More stories about our colleague's efforts to defuse polarization and strengthen democracy, along with similar stories from outside the conflict/peacebuilding field.

Can ChatGPT "listen to" and understand the other side better than we can? And if so, is that useful for de-polarization?

A summary of ideas generated by the joint BI/IGN discussion on ways to strengthen democracy using negotiation, conflict resolution, and related processes.

Our readers share their thoughts: how progressive attitudes are deeply hurting progressives themselves, and how polarization is damaging US credibility abroad. Plus normal colleague and context posts.

We need to learn more about the other side--not about how bad they are, but why they believe what they believe, why they respond to us the way they do, and why they advocate for the things we think are so awful. 

Who has the right to speak how and when? The Stanford Law School controversy has lessons for all of us.

Ideas and announcements from several of our colleagues, as well as observations from people in allied fields about stresses to our democracy, and how to address them effectively.

Ideas and announcements from several of our colleagues, as well as observations from people in allied fields about stresses to our democracy, and how to address them effectively.

Power is not just force. It is the ability to get things done. And that usually is maximized by using integrative and exchange power to encourage collaboration whenever possible, with force used little if at all.

To better understand both others and even ourselves, we must dig deeper into the words and terms we use to ensure we are conveying precisely what we want to convey and nothing more.

Notable organizations working to strengthen democracy and reduce hyper-polarization, along with important readings on those topics from within and outside the conflict/peacebuilding field.

The narratives we engage and deploy shape our world. In the face of rising authoritarianism, what stories and tactics drive collaboration within and between movements?

Israel presents a dilemma for conflict resolvers: should one seek dialogue and compromise, or should one advocate and work for total victory without compromise because one side is so extreme?

US democracy is failing. Each moment deepens the polarization that makes its problems harder to fix. As Americans, we must start now, at scale, strategically, with a broad, cross-party coalition to save our democracy.

Reader-suggested links, colleague activities to strengthen democracy, and outside the field articles on democracy, polarization, and related issues.

Healthy conflict resolution systems rely primary on interest-based negotiations, using rights and power contests much less frequently. US democracy currently does the opposite.

IGL provides training and consultation for leaders and teams to adapt to the changed dynamics of a post-9/11 world. They train reconciliation leaders with personal, interpersonal, systemic, and global competencies in business, community, institutional, national, and world environments.

Are liberal, democratic capitalist states operating under the rule of law capable of meeting the economic, welfare, and identity needs of citizens in the 21st century? If not, what can?

Amid all the bad news, a lot of positive things are happening to strengthen democracy. Take a look at some of them, and the storm clouds still growing.

We are good at understanding and responding to sharp feedback, but not nearly as good seeing and responding to fuzzy feedback, which is the source of many serious mistakes.