Recent Beyond Intractability Posts
Including Hyper-Polarization Posts
Posts by BI Section
Lists of recent posts are also available separately for each BI Section:
Hyper-Polarization Discussion Posts | Earlier Constructive Conflict Initiative Blog
Things You Can Do To Help | Conflict Frontiers | Conflict Fundamentals
Beyond Intractability in Context | Colleague Activities
- Bari Weiss: What it Means to Choose Freedom, Supplemented by Franklin Foer and the Burgesses -- Bari Weiss (The Free Press) and Franklin Foer (The Atlantic) reflect on the meaning of the war in Gaza and world response to it, to prospects for the survival of liberal democracy worldwide. The two, they agree, are linked. -- Mar 08
- Overcoming digital threats to democracy -- A report outlining the ways in which the tools of deliberative democracy could be used to better govern information technologies and help protect the larger society. -- Mar 07
- Our divided nation will fall unless we return to American pragmatism -- Our country is disturbingly polarized, and the future of our republic is at stake if we don’t change course ... and soon. This long-time civil servant observes that we are our own worst enemy. -- Mar 05
- An Antidote to the Polarization Poison -- A fresh look at the threat posed by polarization along with proposals for better protecting ourselves. -- Mar 05
- Bill Froehlich Talks about the Ohio State Divided Community Project -- A summary of a conversation Bill Froehlich about the work of the Divided Community Project which works to help deeply divided communities come together to prevent, and respond to civic strife. -- Mar 04
- Colleague and Context Links for the Week of March 3, 2024 -- More readings and videos suggested by readers, along with our weekly pick of colleague activities and important writing from outside our field. -- Mar 03
- The Age of Amorality -- A look at one of the most difficult questions facing liberal democracies -- the need to use illiberal means to defend those democracies. -- Mar 02
- Equity, Equitist, Equitism -- An insightful new effort to clarify the conflict between the equity of the social justice movement and the egalitarianism of liberal democracy. -- Mar 02
- The Cure for What Ails Our Democracy -- From David Brooks, an insightful look at the virtues of pluralism and the dangers of monism -- the belief that one possesses the one true answer and that anyone who disagrees is evil. -- Feb 29
- How to Disagree Better -- From the Atlantic, links to three articles outlining ways in which we can discuss controversial issues more constructively. -- Feb 29
- Metaphors make the world -- A thought-provoking exploration of the role that metaphors play in helping us make sense of the world in which we live. -- Feb 28
- What Americans don’t get about Israelis Fighting for their Lives -- From Israel, an attempt to correct some of the misperceptions that Americans have about the war. -- Feb 28
- Chaos at the End of History -- From a broad historical perspective, a look at the origins of today's ever present hyper-polarization. -- Feb 26
- The Plurality Institute -- The Plurality Institute is building an ecosystem to push boundaries to reimagine collaborative frameworks. They serve as a hub for academics, industry researchers, practitioners, and leaders from both civil and governmental sectors -- Feb 26
- The Most Important Writing Exercise I’ve Ever Assigned -- A simple and really creative writing assignment (or introspective thought experiment) that helps people see across the deepest of our political divides. -- Feb 24
- Apathy Loses -- If reasonable people disengage from politics, the zealots win. -- An appeal for moderates who can see both sides of today's complex issues to get more evolved in politics. Otherwise, our future will be determined by true believers who see no value in competing views. -- Feb 24
- Lou Kriesberg, Deborah Laufer, and Ashok Panikkar: Hopeful Thoughts About What Could Be, Contrasted with Darker Thoughts About What Is -- One positive, optimistic look at what could happen in Israel/Palestine, and others looking at some of the negative forces that are working against such an integrative outcome. -- Feb 21
- Peter Coleman on The Way Out of Polarization and Intractability -- Polarization is destroying our relationships with friends and family. Peter Coleman has a way to fix that -- and possibly fix our society as well. -- Feb 17
- Talking Race and Democracy with Grande Lum -- The conflict resolution professionals' time has come. We need to step up to the plate! -- Feb 14
- Pluralism, Plurality, and the Generation of Collective Wisdom -- Ideas about how the generation of collective wisdom can enhance the work of the New Pluralists and others interested in escaping the destructive hyper-polarization and stagnation. -- Feb 13
- Reader Responses on the Israel/Hamas War and Reconciliation and Justice -- You cannot provide facts, logic, or reasoning when it comes to “sacred values.” So what should one do when one group's "sacred value" calls for the total destruction of another group? -- Feb 11
- The Grand Canyon-Sized Chasm Between Elites and Ordinary Americans -- The report on what is likely the United States' biggest and most consequential political divide -– the one that separates elites from the rest of society. -- Feb 11
- Colleague and Context Posts for the Week of February 11, 2024 -- Articles submitted by readers and our choices for interesting and important reading from within the conflict and peacebuilding field and beyond. -- Feb 10
- The For-Profit D.C. Firm Staging America’s ‘Grassroots’ Movements -- An astonishing window into the shady world in which "bad-faith" actors manipulate our politics and inflame (and, sometimes, generate) conflict and animosity. -- Feb 10
- Elements of Reconciliation — Part 1: Justice -- Justice has many different meanings. If social justice is to be attained, we need to sit down together an negotiate which of the many meanings of justice we want to pursue--and how. -- Feb 06
