Beyond Intractability as a "CL3" System
A "CL3" Community
CL3 stands for Challenge-oriented, Long-term, Large-scale, Learning system. As a CL3 project, Beyond Intractability is a reference, education, training and networking tool that incorporates the following key features:
- Challenge-Oriented Focus
The system is built around the goal of finding better ways of dealing with nine difficult, but critically important, challenges that we see as being at the core of most intractable conflicts.
- Long-Term Focus
While significant short-term improvements to intractable conflicts are possible, we recognize that major progress on the big challenges will require a long-term effort. One Earth Future, which provided the funding to establish the new Beyond Intractability CL3 structure, is exceptional in its long-term commitment to improving governance towards the goal of ending war. It is a commitment that recognizes that new, innovative thinking will be required to challenge paradigms that aren’t working and offer more constructive alternatives.
- Large-Scale Focus
The very large scale of modern society, along with a large number of specialized peaceworker roles, makes intractable conflict a truly complex problem with no simple "one-size-fits-all" solution. Instead, people facing largely unique conflict challenges need to be matched up with the best available ideas for meeting those challenges. The CL3 structure facilitates this by systematically cataloguing the best available information on strategies for dealing with the full range of intractable conflict problems. This information is then provided to users through a variety of "information overload control" tools.
- Learning System
To improve the way intractable conflicts are addressed, Beyond Intractability seeks to provide users with information in a format appropriate for their needs. This is part of the reason the new system is divided into user-group portals, with different portals for educators, practitioners, and "the New and Featured section" for the wider public. It also supports a large-scale learning effort designed to advance the frontier of the field.
