Broadening the Sense of Community Homepage - Left Column

The Challenge

Building on a foundation of basic security, the next step toward improving governance is fostering a broad sense of community within societies that might be better characterized as a collection of competing, hostile factions. Mechanisms are needed for transforming "us versus them" relationships into "we" relationships where the goal is to figure out how to simultaneously advance everyone's interests. To do this, the first big challenge is to figure out how to transform what are now deeply-divided societies into societies where differing groups are respected enough to be able to live and work together successfully. Among the challenges that need to be addressed are:

• Addressing Unrightable Wrongs -- Most deeply-divided societies share a history of terrible, unrightable wrongs – the kind of wrongs demand that justice be done. Unfortunately, the pursuit of justice, and especially retributive justice, tends to drive the cycle of hostility and repeated violence. Development of more effective mechanisms for addressing terrible injustices while simultaneously repairing relationships is critically needed.
• Promoting Diversity and Tolerance -- Respect for one's identity is another important human need (in addition to the material needs discussed elsewhere). Governance structures must be developed which balance two apparently contradictory needs. On the one hand, individuals need to feel secure in their own identity, culture, and beliefs--including beliefs about fundamental moral issues. On the other hand, they need to be tolerant, respectful and even appreciative of the beliefs of others with whom they may still disagree at a very fundamental level. This dilemma becomes particularly difficult when cultures are particularly ethno-centric, believing that their view of the world is the only acceptable view. That is difficult (perhaps unreasonable) for other cultures and societies to accept and appreciate--thereby creating a policy and governance dilemma.
• Establishing "People-to-People" Relationships -- In deeply-divided societies contact between opposing factions is usually quite limited. When it occurs, it can result in hostile encounters. Building a sense of community requires replacing fearful and hostile interaction patterns with positive encounters, where the two sides can get to know, appreciate, and eventually trust one another.