Beyond Intractability in Context Blog

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Posts ordered from most recent to earliest.

  • The Daily Mail shares an excellent essay that explains the widely misunderstood Israeli perspective on the current crisis in light of recent violence. -- An Israeli Perspective -- Oct 18
  • The New York Times explains that if we want a chance of solving our big problems, we have to defend the acquisition of basic data on those problems, as is made apparent by Angus Deaton's recent Nobel Prize in economics. -- Nobel Prize for Data -- Oct 16
  • NPR's informative interview with Rolling Tone's Tim Dickinson helps those seeking to understand the motivations of the “Freedom Caucus.” -- The Freedom Caucus -- Oct 15
  • The New York Times' David Brooks explains that we need to get beyond our instinct for partisan impartiality and ask hard questions about to GOP extremism and its limits. -- Impartiality for Extremism? -- Oct 13
  • The Washington Post shares great infographics on the growing use of coal for electricity generation, and the difficulties this poses as are energy deamnds steadily increase. -- Infographing Coal in Electricity -- Oct 12
  • The Washington Post gives us a worrying new look at one of the complexities of climate change and the scientific challenge to understanding it: ocean ciculation appears to be slowing. -- The Challenges of Climate Change -- Oct 12
  • In discussing the recent attack on peaceful protesters in Turkey, the Washington Post shares another demonstration of the need to find better ways of protecting peacemakers from violent assault. -- Protecting Peacemakers -- Oct 10
  • The New York Times gives us another reminder of how far we are from a level, political playing field and the need to empower the 99% in order to achieve this. -- Campaign Financing and Political Inequality -- Oct 10
  • Foreign Policy details the most recent Peace Prize: to Tunisian civil society for helping us learn how to make revolutions genuinely advance the common good. -- A Peace Prize for Tunisia -- Oct 09
  • With this quick exercise, the Washington Post gives an excellent explanation of how the mathematics of human interaction can lead to widespread misperceptions about groups views. -- Testing our Perceptions of Group Views -- Oct 09
  • The Atlantic provides great ideas on how to live in a world of irreducible risk and uncertainty. -- Getting Comfortable with Uncertainty -- Oct 09
  • Project Syndicate shares an article about and links to a major new study on how to make the R2P (Right to Protect) movement succeed. -- Right to Protect -- Oct 09
  • In the Washington Post, Dennis suggests a way of navigating the complexities of the Syrian crisis that realistically might limit the tragedy, and warns against implementing only "half-measures." -- Navigating the Complexities of Syria -- Oct 09
  • Thomas Edsall in the New York Times explains that Democrats are increasingly becoming the party of the rich, and explores what that says about the future of US political conflict in an increasingly polarized system. -- Favorites of the Rich: Democrats -- Oct 07
  • In light of new EPA regulations, the New York Times gives a sobering reminder that today’s big environmental laws predate our awareness of the climate change problem. -- Modernizing Environmental Laws -- Oct 07
  • Former treasury secretary Larry Summers shares this good (but heavy) Washington Post article on the global economy, which has profound implications for have/have-not conflict. -- The Global Economy is in Trouble -- Oct 07
  • By examining government dietary guides, the Washington Post gives a reminder of scientific limits, and the need to always consider the possibility that what we think we may be wrong. -- What We Think We Know -- Oct 06
  • David Brooks in the New York Times provides strong argument that universities should do more to address the big moral issues - and the conflicts associate with them. -- The Big University -- Oct 06
  • The Washington Post tells about South Carolina’s 1000 year rain, which serves as a reminder that we need to worry about low probability, but high consequence, conflicts. -- Low Probability, High Consequence -- Oct 05
  • Environmentalists tell us to trust the science - and rightly so. This surprising article about the science of recycling, then, gives us some important numbers to consider. -- The Reign of Recycling -- Oct 03
  • The Atlantic provides gun-control advocates with a revealing look at the other side of the debate, while not demonizing their position. -- Both Sides of the Gun Control Debate -- Oct 02
  • By examining the intellectucal history of Trump supporters, this great National Jounral article on the “Middle American Radicals” offers real insight into the nature of the US political divide. -- Middle American Radicals -- Oct 02
  • Vox's informative gun violence infographics put gun violence in the United States into context, and give us things to think hard about. -- Explaining Gun Violence -- Oct 01
  • The Washington Post's excellent, in-depth look at the Islamic State explains how it functions, highlighting the conquering role of outsiders. -- Life in the Islamic State -- Oct 01
  • In examining China's dominance in the South China Sea, Foreign Policy demonstrates another reason why it’s a mistake to neglect the continuing threat of superpower military confrontations. -- China's Power in the South China Sea -- Oct 01

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