Recent BI and Substack Posts

The number of people supporting political violence is not nearly the 30% that has been often reported, but it is still much higher than it should be. We all need to try to calm down our rhetoric so things don't get out of hand.

Weekly readings and videos of interests.

Looking back on the 5-year old Constructive Conflict Initiative, a lot has happened to bring it to fruition. But a lot of challenges remain.

Power takes three forms that can be mixed and matched: coercion, exchange, and integration. The "recipe" for the optimal "power strategy mix" changes depending on whom you are trying to influence.

We've been on vacation, so, to cover what we've missed, this is a long set of news, opinion, colleague, and recommended readings from our followers.

Constructive confrontation calls for resolving most disputes through interest-based negotiation; only if that fails should one try a contest of rights, reserving nonviolent power contests as a very last resort.

Readings on Israel, the U.S. political scene, and other intractable conflicts of note.

A reprise of an old newsletter on constructive ways of engaging in conflict that is less likely to create backlash and more likely to achieve one's goals than typical adversarial approaches are likely to do.

The Burgesses talked with David Eisner about what he thinks the threats to democracy are, and how (and when) we might respond to them. We agreed, citizen involvement in governance is key.

The Burgesses update their 2-year old discussion of impartiality, adding to it Martin Carcasson's notion of "principled impartiality" which adds in quality information and "small-d" democracy.

More in our regular set of links from readers, about colleague's activities, and from outside news and opinion sources.

In part 2 of this 2-part series, we apply Martin Carcasson's notion of "principled impartiality" to the Israel/Gaza/Hezbollah/Iran war, and to the political conflict in the United States.

Reader suggested links, and the Burgesses selections of articles about colleague's activities and other news and opinion articles of interest.

Short pieces about new books, and new ideas about the challenges we currently face and ways beyond them from John Paul Lederach, Lou Kriesberg, Kenneth Boulding, Deborah Laufer, and Guy and Heidi Burgess.

Susan Carpenter has been working in the field of collaborative problem solving for over 40 years. She talked about the changes she's seen over those years, and the time-tested approaches she has come to rely on for success.

Our weekly collection of links from colleagues and outside news/opinion sources on the many predicaments we are now facing around the world. It's pretty daunting!

Caleb Christen and Walt Roberts talk about the Inter-Movement Impact Project -- another example of massively parallel problem solving and democracy building "in the real world."

Massively parallel social movements can strengthen democracy or tear it apart, and the dividers are currently much more visible (and successful) than the uniters. With effort, though, that can change!

Reader-suggested links, colleague activities, and news and opinion articles that caught our attention this week.

In an hour-long interview, Martin talks about the "wicked problem mindset" as a way to diminish polarization, and encourage collaboration, creativity, and healthy democracy, at least at the local level.

Weekly suggested readings and viewings.

As we think about how to heal US democracy following the upcoming, and undoubtedly divisive election, we propose asking ourselves whether we are willing to treat the other side as we would like to be treated.

Hope, vision, and place-based civic heath are key elements to our ability to navigate the turbulent times that have left so many of us in fear and despair.

Our regular reader-suggested links, colleague activities, news and opinion links and a new "highlighted links" for people who want some really good reads quickly.

To address the polycrisis, it is necessary to "focus on part of the polycrisis but with an awareness of the whole." Among Gerzon and Sebree's several insightful suggestions: forget optimism and pessimism, focusing instead on "possibility."