M. Shane Smith is a graduate student in the Political Science Department at the University of Colorado, Boulder, and Research Assistant at the University's Conflict Research Consortium.
The Hyper-Polarization Challenge to the Conflict Resolution Field: A Joint BI/CRQ Discussion
BI and the Conflict Resolution Quarterly invite you to participate in an online exploration of what those with conflict and peacebuilding expertise can do to help defend liberal democracies and encourage them live up to their ideals.
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Beyond Intractability
Beyond Intractability
The Intractable Conflict Challenge
Our inability to constructively handle intractable conflict is the most serious, and the most neglected, problem facing humanity. Solving today's tough problems depends upon finding better ways of dealing with these conflicts. More...
Selected Recent BI Posts
Including Hyper-Polarization Posts
- On Oppression, Justice, Advocacy, Neutrality, and Peacebuilding -- Additional Perspectives -- More insight into the complex relationship between social justice advocacy and peacebuilding from Larry Susskind, Louis Kriesberg, Jay Rothman, Ken Cloke, Greg Bourne, Lisa Schirch, and Martin Carcasson.
- Summary of "A Framework for Understanding Polarizing Language" -- Polarizing language demonstrates features that are readily identifiable. Can such warnings can be heard and action taken to enable people to shift from violence to problem solving before it's too late?
- Summary of "The Case for Principled Impartiality in a Hyper-Partisan World" -- To abandon impartiality completely and simply join the fray as partisans will likely only further erode our political culture and exacerbate the problems of polarization, distrust, and misinformation.
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Constructive Conflict Initiative
Join Us in calling for a dramatic expansion of efforts to limit the destructiveness of intractable conflict.
Things You Can Do to Help Ideas
Practical things we can all do to limit the destructive conflicts threatening our future.
Conflict Frontiers
A free, open, online seminar exploring new approaches for addressing difficult and intractable conflicts. Major topic areas include:
Scale, Complexity, & Intractability
Massively Parallel Peacebuilding
Conflict Fundamentals
An look at to the fundamental building blocks of the peace and conflict field covering both “tractable” and intractable conflict.
Beyond Intractability / CRInfo
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BI in Context
Links to thought-provoking articles exploring the larger, societal dimension of intractability.
Colleague Activities
Information about interesting conflict and peacebuilding efforts.