Beyond Intractability Newsletters

Beyond Intractability's Free Newsletter is available on Substack

Read and Subscribe Here

 

Newsletters are listed and linked here in reverse chronological order, meaning most recent first. 

 

2023 Newsletters

  • Newsletter 176 - November 15, 2023 - The Israel/Hamas War: A Perfect Storm of Complexity and Chaos
  • Newsletter 175 - November 15, 2023 - Intersectionality, Israel, and Peacebuilding: How Do They Mix?
  • Newsletter 174 - November 10, 2023 - More On the Israel/Hamas War from Contributors
  • Newsletter 173 - November 7, 2023 - The Hyper-Polarization Discussion: Where We Have Been and Where We Are Going
  • Newsletter 172 - November 5, 2023 - Colleague and Context Posts for the Week of November 5, 2023 
  • Newsletter 171 - November 3, 2023 Colleagues' Thoughts about the Israel/Hamas War - Part 1
  • Newsletter 170 - November 1, 2023 - Dealing with Risk and Uncertainty
  • Newsletter 169 - October 30, 2023 - Colleague and Context Posts for the Week of October 15, 2023 
  • Newsletter 168 - October 29, 2023 - Julia Chaitin, Israeli Peacebuilder, on the Israeli-Gazan War
  • Newsletter 167 - October 27, 2023 - Daniel Stid Talks about Ways to Strengthen Democracy by Replacing Polarization with Pluralism
  • Newsletter 166 - October 24, 2023 - Special Edition of Colleague and Context Posts: The 2023 Israel-Hamas War
  • Newsletter 165 - October 23, 2023 - Israel, Hamas, Evil, and the Bad-faith Actor Problem
  • Newsletter 164 - October 17, 2023 - Katie Hyten Explains how Essential Partners is Taking Dialogue to Scale
  • Newsletter 163 - October 13, 2023 - Colleague and Context Posts for the Week of October 15, 2023 
  • Newsletter 162- October 10, 2023 - Bad-Faith Actors and the Red/Blue/Gold Divide
  • Newsletter 161 - October 8, 2023 - Colleague and Context Posts for the Week of October 8, 2023 
  • Newsletter 160 - October 6, 2023 - Daniel Stid: Citizens’ Assemblies: An Idea Whose Time Has Come (Again)
  • Newsletter 159 - October 3, 2023 - Fact, Value, Lie, or Uncertainty? How Do We Tell?
  • Newsletter 158 - Sept. 21, 2023 - Colleague and Context Posts for the Week of Sept. 17, 2023 
  • Newsletter 157 - Sept 18, 2023 -Does the Power-With Approach Include Justice? Comments on Our Power-Over/Power-With Essay
  • Newsletter 155 - Sept 14, 2023 - Pro-Democracy Efforts: the Tension between Power-Over or Power-With Approaches
  • Newsletter 156 - Sept 12, 2023 - A Further Discussion of Dialogue
  • Newsletter 154 - Sept 10, 2023- Colleague and Context Posts for the Week of Sept. 10, 2023 
  • Newsletter 153 -  Sept. 7, 2023 - Jay Rothman on Large Scale Interventions
  • Newsletter 152 -  Sept 3, 2023- Colleague and Context Posts for the Week of Sept. 3, 2023 
  • Newsletter 151 - August 31, 2023 - Daniel Stid: Four Ways To Reframe Democracy in America
  • Newsletter 150  - August 28, 2023 - Zach Elwood on the Belief that "Polarization is not the Problem"
  • Newsletter 149 - August 24, 2023 - Colleague and Context Posts for the Week of Aug. 20, 2023
  • Newsletter 148 - August 22, 2023 - More on Constructive Communication
  • Newsletter 147 - August 16, 2023 - Talking with and Listening To People on the Other Side
  • Newsletter 146 - August 13, 2023 - Colleague and Context Posts for the Week of Aug. 13, 2023
  • Newsletter 145 - August 9, 2023 - Anne Leslie: Know Thyself
  • Newsletter 144 - August 6, 2023 - Colleague and Context Posts for the Week of Aug. 6, 2023
  • Newsletter 143 - August 2, 2023 - Constructively Navigating the World of Media Bias
  • Newsletter 142 - July 30, 2023 - Colleague and Context Posts for the Week of July 30, 2023
  • Newsletter 141 - July 27, 2023 - Jay Rothman and Daniela Cohen on the Aria Group School Intervention in Yellow Springs, Ohio
  • Newsletter 140 - July 25, 2023 - Harry Boyte and Marie-Louise Strom: Constructive Nonviolence 
  • Newsletter 139 - July 23, 2023 - Colleague and Context Posts for the Week of July 23, 2023
  • Newsletter 138 - July 20, 2023 -  Civil Rights Mediation Oral History Project: Modern Updates from Lum, Burgess, and Froehlich
  • Newsletter 137 - July 18, 2023 Ted Wetzel's Disagreement Fitness
  • Newsletter 136 - number accidentally skipped.
  • Newsletter 135 - July 16, 2023 -Colleague and Context Posts for the Week of July 16
  • Newsletter 134 - July 13, 2023 - Contradictory Thoughts About Dialogue
  • Newsletter 133 - July 11, 2023 - Seven More Ways to Turn Down the Heat
  • Newsletter 132 - July 9, 2023 -Colleague and Context Posts for the Week of July 9
  • Newsletter 131 - July 7, 2023 - Bridging the Theory/Action Gap:  One Key to Improving the Effectiveness of Efforts to Strengthen Democracy
  • Newsletter 130 - July 5, 2023 - The Key to Saving Democracy: Reducing Polarization? Promoting Justice? It Takes More Than That!
  • Newsletter 129 - June 30, 2023 - A Remarkable Effort to Do Trauma-Informed Peacebuilding Training in Ukraine Amidst Ongoing Trauma
  • Newsletter 128 - June 28, 2023 - Colleague and Context Posts for the Week of June 25, 2023
  • Newsletter 127 - June 26, 2023 - Rachel Kleinfeld and Shamil Idriss on Polarization, Philanthropic Plurality, Social Justice, and Democracy
  • Newsletter 126 - June 22, 2023 - Social Justice Advocacy, Bridge-Building and Philanthropy: How Do These Intersect?
  • Newsletter 125 - June 19, 2023 -  Colleague and Context Posts for week of June 18
  • Newsletter 124 - June 15, 2023 - More Ways to Turn Down the Heat
  • Newsletter 123 - June 12, 2023 - Palma Strand: A Path Out of Polarization: The Strengthening Democracy Challenge and the Civity Storytelling Intervention
  • Newsletter 122 - June 8, 2023 - Reversing or Better Yet, Avoiding, Destructive Escalation
  • Newsletter 121 - June 5 2023 - Colleague and Context Posts for week of June 5
  • Newsletter-120 - June 1, 2023 - Divided Community Project: Speaking Out to Strengthen the Guardrails of Democracy
  • Newsletter 119 - May 30, 2023 - Learning More about How the TRUST Network Does Massively Parallel Peacebuilding
  • Newsletter 118 - May 25, 2023 - Colleague and Context Posts for week of May 22
  • Newsletter 117 - May 22, 2023 - Escalation is the Most Dangerous Force on the Planet. But We Continue to Drive It
  • Newsletter 116 - May 18,2023 - Paul Monteiro, Former Director of the Community Relations Service, Talking About How CRS Works its Magic
  • Newsletter 115 - May 15, 2023 - Colleague and Context Posts for week of May 15
  • Newsletter 114 - May 11, 2023 - An Award for NAFCM + Conflict Mapping and Other Tools for Understanding Complex Problems
  • Newsletter 113 - May 9, 2023 - John Lande: The Importance of Really Listening – For Ourselves, Others, and Democracy
  • Newsletter 112 - May 7, 2023 - Colleague and Context Posts for week of May 8
  • Newsletter 111 - May 4, 2023 - D.G. Mawn Talks About Community Mediation and NAFCM
  • Newsletter 110 - May 2, 2023 - Colleague and Context Posts for week of May 1
  • Newsletter 109 - April 23, 2023 - Colleague and Context Posts for week of April 23
  • Newsletter 108 - April 21, 2023 - ChatGPT — Can It "Listen" Better Than We Can?
  • Newsletter 107 - April 18, 2023 - Sharing Ideas From Around the Globe on Ways to Strengthen Democracy - A BI/IGN Discussion
  • Newsletter 106 - April 16, 2023 - Polarization's Toll on US Credibility, Progressives' Reverse CBT, and Other Colleague and Context Links
  • Newsletter 105 - April 13, 2023 - Our Problem Isn't "Them"
  • Newsletter 104 - April 11, 2023 - Carrie Menkel-Meadow: Freedom of Speech and Freedom to Protest
  • Newsletter 103 - April 8, 2023 - Colleague and Context Posts for week of April 2
  • Newsletter 102 - April 6, 2023 - The Power Strategy Mix — Empowering the Pursuit of the Common Good
  • Newsletter 101 - April 4, 2023 - Alan Yarborough: Getting to Meaning
  • Newsletter 100 - April 2, 2023 - Colleague and Context Posts for week of April 2
  • Newsletter 99 - March 26, 2023 - Julia Roig and James Savage: Exploring Narrative Practices for Broad-based Movements in Contexts of Democratic Decline
  • Newsletter 98 - March 23, 2023 - Helena Desivilya Syna on The Paradox of Tolerance with a response from Heidi Burgess and Guy Burgess
  • Newsletter 97 - March 21, 2023 -  Rachel Kleinfeld's "Five Strategies to Support U.S. Democracy" 
  • Newsletter 96 - March 19, 2023 - Colleague and Context Posts for week of March 12
  • Newsletter 95 March 16, 2023 - Planning a Constructive Confrontation Strategy: Understanding the Relationship between Negotiation and Power 
  • Newsletter 94 March 14, 2023 - Kevin Clements' "Authoritarian Populism and Atavistic Nationalism: 21st Century Challenges to Peacebuilding and Development
  • Newsletter 93 March 12, 2023 - - Colleague and Context Posts for week of March 12
  • Newsletter 92 - March 8, 2023 - Sharp vs. Fuzzy Feedback — The Distinction That Explains Why Society Can Be Both Astonishingly Smart and Incredibly Stupid
  • Newsletter 91 - March 5, 2023 - Colleague and Context Posts for week of March 5
  • Newsletter 90 -- March 2, 2023 - Urban Rural Action Frameworks
  • Newsletter 89 - February 28, 2023 -  Blame and Contribution
  • Newsletter 88 - February 26, 2023 Colleague and Context Posts for the Week of March 26
  • Newsletter 87 - February 23, 2023 - Julia Roig Talks about Weaving a Healthy Democracy in the United States
  • Newsletter 86 - February 21, 2023 Massively Circular Hyper-Polarization
  • Newsletter 85- February 19, 2023 Colleague and Context Posts for the Week of February 19
  • Newsletter 84- February 16, 2023 David Smith: Peace is My Day Job
  • Newsletter 83 - February 14, 2023 - Conflict Core and Overlay Issues
  • Newsletter 82 - February 12, 2023 - Colleague and Context Posts for the Week of February 12
  • Newsletter 81 -February 10, 2023 - The Trust Network: An Example of Massively Parallel Peacebuilding in Action
  • Newsletter 80 - February 7, 2023 - Carol Pauli's "The 'End' of Neutrality: Tumultuous Times Require a Deeper Value"
  • Newsletter 79 - February 5, 2023 - Colleague and Context Posts for the Week of February 5
  • Newsletter 78 - February 2, 2023 - Constructive Confrontation: Applying Conflict Insights from a 1st Party (Not 3rd Party) Perspective
  • Newsletter 77 - January 31, 2023 - Could Massively Parallel Processes Make Hyper-Polarization Worse?
  • Newsletter 76 - January 29, 2023 - Colleague and Context Posts for the Week of January 29
  • Newsletter 75 - January 27, 2023 - Revisiting the Gun Violence Issue and America's Declining Trust and Increasing Sense of Threat
  • Newsletter 74 - January 25, 2023 - Massively Parallel Peacebuilding vs. Massively Parallel Partisanship
  • Newsletter 73 - January 22, 2023 - Colleague and Context Posts for the Week of January 22
  • Newsletter 72 - January 20, 2023 - The Google Maps and Adopt-a-Highway Approach to Systems
  • Newsletter 71 - January 17, 2021 - From the Discussion: Kristin Hansen and the Civic Health Project's Work on De-polarization in America
  • Newsletter 70 - January 15, 2023 - Colleague and Context Posts for the Week of January 15
  • Newsletter 69 - January 12, 2023 - From the Hyper-Polarization Discussion: Anne Leslie on Embracing Ambiguity
  • Newsletter 68 - January 10, 2023 - Addressing the Skeptics and Moving Forward
  • Newsletter 67 - January 3, 2023 - Massively Parallel Peacebuilding/Problem Solving

 

 2022 Newsletters

  • Newsletter 66 - Dec. 18, 2022 - Essential Elements + Obstacles = The Things That Need Doing Matrix
  • Newsletter 65 - Dec. 11, 2022 - Obstacles to Implementing the Elements of Successful Democracy 
  • Newsletter 64 - Dec. 5, 2022 - Essential Elements of Successful Democracies - Part 2
  • Newsletter 63 - Nov. 30, 2022 - Essential Elements of Successful Democracies - Part 1
  • Newsletter 62 - Nov. 17, 2022 - The 2022 Election – Did It Make Hyper-Polarization Better or Worse
  • Newsletter 61 - Nov. 9, 2022 - Fighting Hyper-Polarization for Our Children and Grand Children
  • Newsletter 60 - Oct. 31, 2022 - How Do We Get What We Want and Need? Through Polarization or Bridge-building, Reframing, and "Omni-Win" Approaches?
  • Newsletter 59 - Oct. 24, 2022 -  If You Don't Know Where You Are Going, It Is Going to Be Hard to Get There
  • Newsletter 58 - Oct.17, 2022 -  Developing a Vision for a Society in Which We Would All Like to Live
  • Newsletter 57 - Oct. 12, 2022 -  The Crane Brinton Effect — Why Revolutions Fail
  • Newsletter 56 - Oct. 4, 2022 -  Additional Perspectives on Oppression, Justice, Advocacy, Neutrality, and Peacebuilding 
  • Newsletter 55 - Sept 29, 2022 -  On Oppression, Justice, Advocacy, Neutrality, and Peacebuilding -- Part 3
  • Newsletter 54 - Sept 25, 2022 -  On Oppression, Justice, Advocacy, Neutrality, and Peacebuilding -- Part 2
  • Newsletter 53 - Sept. 21, 2022 - On Oppression, Justice, Advocacy, Neutrality, and Peacebuilding -- Part 1
  • Newsletter 52 - Sept. 16, 2022 - Hyper-Polarization Challenges: Scale, Complexity, and Collaboration
  • Newsletter 51 - Sept. 11, 2022 - Strategies for Revitalizing Democracy in the Post 9/11 Era
  • Newsletter 50 - Sept 7, 2022 - How Can We Reduce Hyper-Polarization? Join BI's Discussion to Share Your Ideas and Learn Others!
  • Newsletter 49 - July 2, 2022 - BI Announcements and Highlighting the work of Search for Common Ground
  • Newsletter 48 - March 6. 2022 - The Ukrainian War — What Happens When You Have a War That Both Sides Absolutely, Positively Can't Afford to Lose?
  • Newsletter 47 - Jan. 26, 2022 - Guy Burgess's answer to The Bridge Alliance's inquiry about priorities for reducing the now alarmingly high social divisiveness and alienation threatening our ability to function as a democratic republic

2021 Newsletters

  • Newsletter 46 - Oct. 29, 2021 - Examining the problem of over-simplification of causes and conflicts to simple "us-verusu-them" narratives.
  • Newsletter 45- Sept 15, 2021  - A reflection on what the U.S. has—and hasn't—learned since Vietnam.
  • Newsletter 44- June 15, 2021 - Reconciliation--Badly Needed or a Misguided Goal?
  • Newsletter 43 - June 2, 2021 - "Bad-Faith" Actors Part 2 -- Sources of Vulnerability
  • Newsletter 42 - May 3, 2021 - "Bad-Faith" Actors Part 1
  • Newsletter 41 - March 30, 2021 - Coming Home...To Terror :  The King Soopers Mass Shooting
  • Newsletter 40 - February 16, 2021 - Positive Thinking
  • Newsletter 39 - February 5, 2021 - The Implications of John Paul Lederach's notion of "the meeting place" of peace, justice, truth, and mercy being reconciliation.
  • Newsletter 38 -Jan. 26, 2021 -  Avoiding the Category 5 Socio-political Hurricane

2020 Newsletters

  • Newsletter 37 - Dec. 16, 2020 - So Where Do We Go Now?! (After the 2020 Election in the U.S.)
  • Newsletter 36 - Oct. 30, 2020 - Taking Stock [of the Construcive Conflict Initiative] and Looking Ahead
  • Newsletter 35 - Sept. 22, 2020 - Continuing Our Examination of Escalation and Polarization
  • Newsletter 34 - August 27, 2020 - An Examination of Escalation
  • Newsletter 33 - August 19, 2020 - COVID, Racism, and Conflict -- More Thoughts
  • Newsletter 32 - June 22, 2020 - COVID, Racism, and Conflict:  How Can We Respond Constructively?
  • Newsletter 31 - May 11, 2020 - Conflict and COVID-19 ...Continued
  • Newsletter 30 - April 2, 2020 - Conflict and COVID-19 
  • Newsletter 29  - January 14, 2020 - Update on Beyond Intractability's activities

 

2019 Newsletters

2018 Newsletters