Recent BI and Substack Posts

A review of what we've focused on and what we've learned since starting this newsletter 20 months ago, and a discussion of where we plan to go in the months ahead.

Colleague and context articles on U.S. hyperpolarization, Israel/Hamas, and other conflicts from around the world.

A compilation of the first comments we have received about our Israel/Hamas war discussion posts. There is much to think snd debate about here!

Risk and uncertainty are scary, and are often avoided by cognitive traps which pretend we have certainty when we don't. Better to remain flexible, so we can respond effectively as the situation clarifies.

A mixture of U.S. and Israel colleague and context posts for this week.

Chilling testimony from an Israeli peace activist living near the Gaza/Israeli border, and her thoughts about ways forward.

Polarization is afflicting both leaders and followers, and the feedback between the two makes the problem worse. Key to fighting that is reinvigorating the value of political pluralism and openness to divergent views of problems and solutions, starting first at the local and state levels.

A special edition of our colleague and context posts, all focused on the Israel/Palestinian war of 2023.

From a conflict resolution and peacebuilding perspective, reflections on Hamas' horrific attack on Israel and the role that our field has played and could play in shaping this tragedy.

Essential Partners has figured out both how to scale dialogue at least to the community level, if not beyond, and to make the relationship improvements dialogue engenders sustainable over the long term.

More interesting links from our colleagues and people allied with and of interest to the conflict and peacebuilding fields.

We need to distinguish between good-faith and bad-faith actors, and also between intentional and reluctant bad-faith actors, dealing with each in a different way.

More interesting and important articles from our colleagues and others in allied fields.

Citizens' assemblies are an ancient form of governance, used by the Athenians in the 5th Century B.C., whose time has come again. Daniel Stid reports on their increasing use and benefits around the world, including in the U.S.

Sorting out "real facts" from "fake facts" gets more difficult all the time. But there are ways to do it. And it matters. Because facts can "bite you," even if you don't believe they are true.

This second half of our update on BI's Constructive Conflict Initiative looks at additional steps that we could take to strengthen our field's ability to promote more constructive approaches to conflict and build healthier democracies.

More insightful articles from colleagues and journalists from around the world.

Colleagues ask power-with and power-over whom, for what purpose, and when? All good questions--and starts of answers.

Dialogue has no fixed goal or predetermined agenda. The emphasis is not on resolving disputes, but rather on improving the way in which people with significant differences relate to each other. 

"Pro-democracy" efforts have little consensus on what democracy is, or how it should be "saved." Our failure to reconcile these competing views is a big part of the reason why democracy is in so much trouble.

In this interview, Jay Rothman continues to reflect on strategies for scaling up small group processes in ways that enable whole communities to develop "both-and" solutions the common problems.

More interesting and important ideas from our conflict resolution/peacebuilding colleagues and others in allied fields.

How loneliness and isolation are contributing to our political malaise--and four ideas for changing that.

Polarization is hurting both sides, and both sides should be concerned about reducing it if they want to achieve any of the high-priority goals.

Another set of links to interesting articles from our colleagues in conflict resolution, journalism, and allied fields.