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Constructive Conflict Guide >
The Complex Factors That Make Intractable Conflict So Difficult >
Conflict "Overlay" Problems
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Electoral Processes
Electoral processes have been widely challenged with charges of gerrymandering, voter suppression, illegitimate voters, erroneous counting, and unfair (though legal) procedures (such as the U.S. electoral college which sometimes allows a candidate who lost the popular vote still win the presidential election).
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Legislative Processes
Legislative processes are problematic when they use procedures which may be technically legal, but "smell bad" -- such as the provision that allows just one senator to block a bill from passage.
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Administrative Processes
Administrative processes are very controversial when the U.S. President issues executive orders that seem to overstep his bounds, or his administration does things that seem to violate either the Constitution or laws passed by Congress and signed by an earlier administration (hence, having the force of law).
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Judicial Processes
Though it is considered in U.S. law to be the "last resort," judges can and sometimes do overstep their authority to enforce the law, and do so in a way that causes observers to claim they are making their own laws, based on their own preferences, rather than the Constitution or legal precedent. This is called judicial activism and is usually very controversial.
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Law Enforcement Processes
Law enforcement has often been accused of procedural problems, ranging from over policing and "racial profiling" to inadequately policing certain neighborhoods or certain crimes.
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Military Responses
Military procedural problems can stem from bad planning or practice among servicemen and women or officers, or bad orders coming from the Commander in Chief such as what happened during the U.S. pullout from Afghanistan in 2020.
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Limited Civic Skills
As we have often said in these pages, "democracy is not a spectator sport." Strong democracies require strong civic engagement. But fewer and fewer Americans have the civic knowledge or skills to participate effectively.
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Collaboration Problems
The best decisions usually come out of collaborations where people with different expertise and viewpoints collaborate to evaluate problems and develop solutions that will meet the needs of people of all political stripes. But hyper-polarization makes such collaboration very difficult. Opponents don't trust each other, they don't believe each other, and they seldom are willing to sit down with the other side to listen and learn.
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Distrust and Lack of Confidence That People Will Live up to an Agreement
Another obstacle to negotiation is distrust in the other side. If a negotiator can't be reasonably sure that they other side will adhere to any agreement reached, there is no point in negotiating in the first place.
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Using Fair Processes to Make Decisions When When Win-Lose Choices Are Unavoidable
When win-lose choices are unavoidable, they can still be acceptable (and accepted) by the losers, if the losers believe that the process used to make the decision was fair. That means that it followed standard procedures, allowed all voices to be heard and considered, and followed accepted rule of law.
BI Article
Fundamentals Seminar 11: Procedural Problems/Solutions