This blog contains posts highlighting things everyone--not just powerful people, not just important or rich people--but everyone of us--can do to help limit the dynamics that lead to destructive and intractable conflicts.
Things You Can Do To Help Home | About | Follow | Join Discussions | All Posts
Things You Can Do To Help Blog
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Pick Your Fights--Let Things Go When You Can
Fights cost lots and may be lost! If you can live and let live, it is often much better for all.
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Try Collaboration First!
If we dig below positions, we often can collaborate with "our enemies" to the benefit of all.
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Listen To and Talk With (not to) the Other Side
Even if you think you know what the other side thinks, you likely don't--and they don't know you either.
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Find Others to Work With
Alone we can do a little bit, but with others we can accomplish much more. Collaboration works!
Visit briefly, follow, or join our Conflict Frontiers Massive Open Online Seminar series (MOOS) to explore and discuss strategies for more constructively addressing the many challenges of the large-scale, complex, intractable conflicts that threaten contemporary society.
Frontiers Home | About | Seminar Series Syllabi | Follow | Constructive Confrontation | Massively Parallel Peacebuilding | Action List | Authoritarian Populism | Read Discussions | Join Discussions
LATEST POSTS
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Promoting De-Escalation – Part 1: Conciliatory Gestures
Though risky, escalation is riskier! Conciliatory gestures can turn escalation around.
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Limit "Us-vs-Them" Language, Thinking and Action
If you collaborate with "your enemy" against escalation and "divide & conquerors"--you both can win!
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Counter Hate and Malevolence - Part 2
Responding to hate with hate is like pouring gasoline on a fire...you are likely to get burned!
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Counter Hate and Malevolence - Part 1
Hate, no matter how "justified" hurts us more than it helps us. Don't do it!
Brief readings and videos which highlight the conflict and peacebuilding field's fundamental building blocks – ideas which help address both "tractable" and intractable conflicts more effectively.
LATEST POSTS
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Channels of Communication
When channels of communication between hostile actors close, risks of destructive conflict raise substantially.
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Misunderstandings
Even if the misunderstandings do not cause conflict, they can escalate it rapidly once it starts.
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Interpersonal Communication
We take it for granted, but so much can go wrong with our communication. In conflict, care is essential!
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Cognitive Dissonance
Cognitive dissonance can escalate or de-escalate conflict depending on how it is used.
Beyond Intractability's efforts to promote more constructive approaches to conflict occur within the larger context of efforts to promote wise and equitable solutions to a broad range of social problems. This blog highlights readable news articles that help us understand the big picture.
LATEST POSTS
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https://www.cnn.com/2018/12/03/politics/real-american-poll/index.htmlGood news: polling results that indicate that we really do have common values worth cherishing.
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A Cold War Arms Treaty Is Unraveling. But the Problem Is Much BiggerWe are letting the nuclear genie back out of the bottle. Fixing this ought to be at the top of everyone's priority list.
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The Case Against Meritocracy: An Aristocracy That Can’t Admit It.A much-needed and all too rare criticism of the meritocracy and its role in society's unraveling.
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Better Angels: The Top 14 Causes of Political PolarizationAn exploration of why simple theories of political polarization can't explain our current predicament.
Many other people are doing important and interesting things in an effort to move beyond intractability-in theory and in practice, in different locations and on different conflicts. Please share what you are doing here so we can all learn from each other.
LATEST POSTS
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The Solutions Journalism Network
The Solutions Journalism Network shares 1000s of stories about solutions to problems that actually work!
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AFP's Resource Page on Peacebuilding in the U.S.
Books, articles, videos, podcasts showing how peace can be built in the U.S. as well as abroad.
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Being Validated
Being validated is a basic need--that is getting met less and less. Face-to-face connection can fix that.
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Randy Butler's Peacemaker Podcast
While our world seems to be falling apart, peacebuilders worldwide are working to put the pieces back together.
