I believe we are on the edge of a quantum leap into a whole new way of organizing and living as a human family.
- Mairead Corrigan Maguire
The goal of Beyond Intractability is to facilitate the development and implementation of strategies for dealing with problems like those outlined in the articles listed below. In doing this, we want to provide access to information on both short-term strategies for making things better and longer-term development projects that will be required to address the really tough challenges. Cities across Europe are worried about the effect of the eurozone crisis on their own financial stability. Attitudes towards those like Greece and Italy continute to be pessimistic as many wonder if the euro as well as the European Union should be reformed.
A global pullback from AIDS funding may mean HIV could again become a death sentence for people in the developing world.
While the term "failed state" usually is used to refer to nation-states whose government has failed to provide the most basic services, this article asserts that the State of California can also be put into that category, for its virtually "immobilized" and almost bankrupt government. While there are bright signs in the private sector, something clearly has to change in the way the state is governed, this article asserts.
After the Holocaust, many said "never again." But then there was Rwanda. And Cambodia. And Darfur. And no one (at least for a long time) intervened. Why not? "Lack of political will" is a common answer. But what is "political will" and why is it absent when it is so needed? This article explores this question.
Europe's financial crisis is causing some European Union lawmakers to question whether the bloc can continue to deliver millions in aid to the Palestinians.
This article summarizes the eurozone crisis in Italy and Greece, as well as the possible ramifications to markets.
The Fund for Peace's Failed States Index is one of the leading indices of good and bad governance (focusing, obviously, on the bad). By examining 12 social, economic, and political variables and numerous "sub-factors" within teach of those, the index analyzes the quality of governance in each of the world's nation states. The stie also provides detailed commentary on what needs to be done to improve failing states' rankings.
The writer of this article calls on the Obama administration to stop pouring billions of dollars into state bureaucracies and instead promote bottom-up entrepreneurship. This, he argues, would be far more effective in alleviating poverty and supporting democracies in the developing world than traditional forms of foreign aid.
Greece's prime minister will name a new Crisis Cabinet to roll out painful austerity measures and calm the political turmoil that has threatened to bankrupt Athens and force it out of the euro zone.
This article describes the eurozone crisis, specifically in Italy, and looks at how a solution can be made. The author argues a delicate equilibrium must be found between the crisis becoming worse and not worse enough that the solution no longer solves the problem.