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Constructive Conflict Guide >
Civic Knowledge and Skills That We All Need to Constructively Handle Intractable Conflict
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Using a Respectful Tolerance Strategy to Allow Groups to Coexist with One Another despite Deep Differences
Democracy is not a system for one side overpowering and oppressing others. It is a system for allowing people with very different values and beliefs to live together peacefully. Tolerance of difference is essential for that.
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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.
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Civic Engagement
If we are to have government "of the people," and "by the people," that means that we, "the people," must be involved. That means all of us!
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Transparency, Freedom of the Press, and Public Oversight
We, as citizens, should insist on governmental transparency, and press freedom, so we know what is happening in our name and we can take steps to oppose (and hopefully get changed) efforts that we don't like.
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The Importance of the Rule of Law, Checks and Balances
Rule of law and checks and balances are key elements of liberal democracy. Rule of law means that laws apply to everyone and procedures and policies should follow those laws. Checks and balances mean that the three branches of government (executive, legislative, and judicial) are independent of each other and provide checks on the over reach of the others.
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Navigating the Power Contest Hierarchy
This article explains how the various dispute resolution arenas (e,g, administrative appeals, legislative action, electoral politics, public opinion, judicial review, policing, and military action) relate to one another in a rough hierarchy.
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Individual Rights and Due Process
In liberal democracies, individual rights must be protected and due process followed in any attempt to make political decisions.
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The Continuum between Legitimate and Illegitimate Types of Power
Politics means jockeying for and utilizing power to make decisions. But power can be obtained and used legitimately -- through free and fair elections, and by following the rule of law, or it can be obtained and used illegitimately. The former usually leads to better decisions and more stable democracies.
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Majority Rule, Minority Rights, and Preventing the Tyranny of the Majority
This is another fundamental concept of liberal democracies. While the majority does have the power to make decisions by majority vote, they still have to abide by certain rules (those named in the Constitution in the U.S., for example) to protect the rights of the minority.
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Deep-Rooted Core Differences
Understanding intractability requires understanding how fundamental, "core" tensions over moral, distributional, status, identity, and fairness issues continually pull us apart.