Recent BI and Substack Posts

Are we on the brink of catastrophe...and if so, can we step back...or will we fall (or jump)? #mbi_frontiers

MPP offers a strategy for combining our collective knowledge and skills into a large-scale effort to promote more constructive approaches to conflict. #mbi_frontiers

Part II of the Beyond Intractability Frontiers Online Seminar shows how EVERYONE can and must get involved in solving today's big problems. #mbi_frontiers

Harnessing the power of markets: a strategy for scaling up efforts to deal with complex, intractable conflict. #mbi_frontiers

Google traffic and other traffic control activities can teach us a lot about dealing with conflict. #mbi_fundamentals

Reconciliation is not the imposition of one side's view on the other, but rather a meeting of minds and a way forward. #mbi_cci

We need to stop thinking in terms of mediation triads, and scale up conflict work to societal levels. #mbi_frontiers

Complexity-oriented approaches to conflict are more like medicine and less like engineering. #mbi_frontiers

Those who seek power-over others are dealing better with social and psychological complexity. This needs to change! #mbi_frontiers

We need to resist "divide and conqueror" efforts to control society by exacerbating and exploiting left/right tensions. #mbi_frontiers

An explanation of why this may be our best/last chance to make democracy work (and avoid autocracy and anocracy). #mbi_frontiers

Speeding society's ability to rapidly adapt to changing conditions should be a key goal of the conflict field. #mbi_frontiers

An exploration of how understanding ecodynamics and evolution can help us deal with complex conflict. #mbi_frontiers

In the wake of the still disputed US election, we have a massive amount of work to do to respond effectively to our many crises. Here's how to start. #mbi_cci

Simple models won't work! We must develop conflict intervention models for higher-level complex systems. #mbi_frontiers

Intractable conflicts are complex adaptive systems, so they need complex, adaptive responses. #mbi_frontiers

The destructive way in which we handle society-wide conflict is as big a threat to humanity as climate change. It deserves comparable levels of attention. #mbi_frontiers

Those who have been working globally on conflict and peacebuilding projects are now applying that expertise to the deep divisions within US society. #mbi_fundamentals

A list of six things we all can do to move forward in these fightening and chaotic times. #mbi_cci

We need to remember that difference is strength, and we should learn from and appreciate our differences, not fight them. #mbi_cci

Providing face saving opportunities makes it much easier for people to admit their mistakes. Humiliating them makes it almost impossible.

Transforming our destructive politics will require the efforts of lots of different "3rd siders" -- each working on a different part of the problems. #mbi_cci

Since the conflict ethos feeds continuation of the conflict, that needs to change for conflicts to be resolved. #mbi_fundamentals

Improving justice for blacks improves outcomes for everyone by increasing trust, security, and mutual understanding between citizens and the police. #mbi_cci

In intractable conflicts, entire societies can get tangled up in destructive psychological dynamics. #mbi_fundamentals