BI ArticleEnemy Images
Enemy images deepen our socio-economic and political problems, while they make effective problem solving impossible.
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Constructive Conflict Guide >
Civic Knowledge and Skills That We All Need to Constructively Handle Intractable Conflict >
Constructive Framing & Future Visioning
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Enemy Images
Enemy images deepen our socio-economic and political problems, while they make effective problem solving impossible.
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Attack the Problem, Not the People
Separate the people from the problem might be the most often violated fundamental conflict resolution principle, even by people who know better. And it is hurting us.
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Our Problem Isn't "Them"
We need to learn more about the other side--not about how bad they are, but why they believe what they believe, why they respond to us the way they do, and why they advocate for the things we think are so awful.
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Focus on Contribution, Not Blame
Focusing on blame doesn't solve problems, it just makes them more intractable. Focusing on contribution instead encourages collaborative problem solving that stands a much better chance of success.
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Jayne Docherty talks about the Red/Blue Divide She Lives in Everyday
A preview of a compelling story about a liberal professor finding commonality with her conservative neighbors, and what that could mean for the rest of us in the U.S.
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Greg Bourne: What Do the Times Require?
A short, compelling statement of why we all need to operate from a place of love and respect for one another instead of hate.
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Why those concerned about worst-case Trump scenarios should see depolarization as important
Helping Americans get along better doesn't mean us all liking each other. It means us disagreeing better; disagreeing in healthier, less toxic, less hateful ways so we can all move forward to what we want.
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Larry Susskind in the Negotiation Journal: Initiating Collaboration in the Midst of a Standoff
Breakthrough Collaboration is a strategy developed by the Consensus Building Institute to create "ripeness" for negotiation when none exists.
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From the Discussion: Kristin Hansen and the Civic Health Project's Work on De-polarization in America
The Civic Health Project's Kristin Hansen on why polarization matters, and what we can do to reduce it.
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Colin Rule: Positive Reframing in Political Conversations: Avoiding the Race to the Bottom
A call for positive reframing in political conversations --- demonstrating that you have really heard the core contentions of the other side, and that you are willing to engage with the strongest part of their argument.
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Kristen Hansen: Are Bridge-builders Being "Too Nice" to the Right?
A suggestion of ways bridge-builders and the left might talk to the right so that they don't reinforce the right's "Trumpian" tendencies.
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Is Polarization Good or Bad?
Several commentators have observed that polarization can be good. That is true if "polarization" simply means "conflict," but not when it becomes destructive. On that we all agree.
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Within-Party Differences
It is common to assume that the views of a few outspoken members of a group reflect the views of the entire group, i.e. all Christians think the same. However members of the same group often have drastically different opinions.
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Infographic: Intractable Conflicts Aren't Just Us vs. Them
We almost all oversimplify our conflicts into "us-versus-them"---but that does us all harm.
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Dehumanization in Politics
U.S. peacebuilders used to focus on dehumanization as a problem seen elsewhere. Now we are seeing it at home as well.
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Put Down the Brick...A Commentary on Community Economics
An explanation of how all of us can contribute to post-election healing by pursuing "public kinship," connecting with others in our communities.
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So What
A list of six things we all can do to move forward in these fightening and chaotic times.
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A More Positive "Take" on "The Jeep Ad"
Why and how the Superbowl Jeep ad was much better than it was seen to be.
BI Article
Bridge-Building in Times of Hyper-Polarization: An ACR-EPP Webinar
A report on the webinar Guy and Heidi Burgess did with the Environmental and Public Policy Section of the Association for Conflict Resolution, focusing on how environmental and public policy mediators might be able to help strengthen U.S. democracy.
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Teacher, Consensus Builder and Advocate Frank Dukes Talks with Guy and Heidi Burgess About Balancing Those Three Roles
Frank Dukes talks about how he balances his three roles of conflict resolution practitioner, teacher/trainer, and human rights advocate in this wide-ranging interview.
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Conflicting Visions and Frames
When people have divergent and competing images of what is happening in the world, why, and what they want, that makes resolving the conflicts between them much more challenging than it is when they share fundamental understandings of what the conflict is about, and how it might be resolved.
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Failure to Recognize the Need to Limit Destructive Conflict
Many people think polarization, conflict, and even war is inevitable -- "it is just human nature," some say. But the lethality of modern conflict and warfare makes the importance of conflict limitation and war prevention of utmost importance.
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Missing Underlying Democratic Vision
Many Americans who came of age after the end of the Cold War don't have a good sense of how democracy is different from other governmental systems, and why it is superior (at least to those who have grown accustomed to it). And even those who support democracy have widely different images about what democracy is, and what aspects of it are most important to preserve or even strengthen.
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Us-vs-Them Framing, Enemy Images, and Into-the-Sea Framing
One common contributor to intractability is the tendency to simplify complex conflicts into simple us-versus-them, good side versus bad side narratives. These go so far as "into-the-sea" framing where adversaries tried to entirely get rid of the other side.
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Constructive Framing & Future Visioning
If you frame conflicts as shared problems that need to be solved collaboratively, and work together to develop a vision for the future that will be acceptable to all, you are much more likely to be able to deal with conflict in a constructive way.
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Imagine a Positive Shared Future
You can't get to a destination if you don't know where it is. Likewise, if you don't know what kind of future you want, it will be hard to achieve. And if you seek a future that the "other side" strongly opposes, you are also likely to fail. Constructive conflict involves developing an image of a positive shared future -- a future in which everyone in society would like to (or at least be willing to) live.
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Visionaries
Visionaries help us imagine a unifying vision for a diverse society that maximizes self-determination while promoting joint action to protect the commons.
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A Vision for a Democracy That Lives up to Its Ideals
The ability of conflict to advance, rather than threaten, the human condition depends upon having a shared vision of how to build a democratic society that fairly and wisely balances the competing interests of its diverse citizenry.
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We are Not Divided: Reasons to Be Cheerful Project
A good news media outlook posting stories about people using collaboration and other conflict resolution strategies to come together to solve problems.
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Crossing the Divide
A set of videos highlighting "incredible individuals" who are pioneering new ways to connect with those on opposing sides in the world's "most intense religious, political, and societal conflicts."
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What's your 'red line'? | Jonathan Haidt with Mónica Guzmán
Does engaging bad ideas across the divide make you a bad person? Renowned psychologist and author Jonathan Haidt talks with Monica Guzman in this Braver Angels video.
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Braver Angels Media
Braver Angels' work is about building civic trust in the USA, healing the wounds between left and right. This video series highlights the stories of the people doing this work.
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How to rise above partisan politics to uphold our democracy
As we celebrate the International Day of Democracy, here are seven ways to mobilize citizens across differences as partisans for democracy. An article from Julia Roig.
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A Tale of Two Karens
They are political polar opposites, but through Braver Angels, they're forging a path toward productive conversations, and even friendship.
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Civity & the "Tough Issues"
Learn how Civity is addressing really tough social issues by improving civic relationships.
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Bridging divides in the workplace
Many companies are witnessing how contentious social and political issues create workplace conflict and reduce productivity. A look at how businesses can help repair America's social fabric --- both in and out of the workplace.
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Weighing difficult choices for a more promising future
Our choices will determine whether we continue on the path of dehumanizing one another in ways that fracture society and promote conflict, or will we change directions so that America can thrive again.
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Defusing American Anger
A new, free online book by Zachary Elwood that shows how to better understand our fellow citizens and reduce our us-vs-them divides.
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The Belonging Barometer: The State of Belonging in America
The Belonging Barometer calls attention to belonging as a critical dimension of life that should matter to all stakeholders who seek to improve America's physical, social, civic, and democratic well-being.
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Listen, Watch, Read, Experience A Better America!
Scores of on-demand videos about ways to bring people together across political divides.
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Collaborating with the Enemy
A summary and review of Adam Kahane's book on how to work with people you don't agree with, like, or trust.
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Can We Transform Our Politics? Utah Governor Spencer Cox Addresses the Braver Angels Convention
Governor Cox talks about his new "Disagree Better" Initiative which he hopes will help revive healthy American politics because, he says "the alternative is unthinkable."
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Citizen Solutions: America's Hidden Opportunity Revealed.
Starts With Us' inititiave to empower Americans to overcome our misperceptions and co-create solutions to shared challenges. This article shows how badly we misjudge "the other" on many dimensions.
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The Building Civic Bridges Act
A Congressional Act introduced by a bipartisan coalition to establish a pilot program within AmeriCorps, focused on building relationships across lines of difference, led by a new "Office of Civic Bridgebuilding."
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Americans think the "other side" is the problem when it's really the solution
We have the power -- and with that power, the responsibility -- to open our eyes and look across the aisle and see not an enemy but a potential partner for change.
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Are Our Political Rivals As Bad As We Think They Are? DTH Episode 161 with Daniel F. Stone
A conversation talking about how to understand the mistakes we make about those on the other side of the political spectrum --- and how they drive the affective polarization that is tearing us apart.
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Why A Liberal Should Want To Share A Table With A Conservative (Like Me)
A look at the significant lost opportunities when the left gives up on the right.
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Belonging Design Principles: A resource guide for building belonging
From the Othering and Belonging Institute, a set of ideas about how society can organize itself so that no one is "othered," and we all collaborate to build a society in which everyone wants to live.
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Peace: We Build It! Building Bridges Amid Division: Understanding America's Conflict Dynamics
In this podcast, AfP Executive Director Liz Hume discusses identity-based grievances, polarization, and social cohesion in the U.S with three experts across the political spectrum.