Newsletter #103 — April 8, 2023
Colleague Activities
Highlighting things that our conflict and peacebuilding colleagues are doing that contribute to efforts to address the hyper-polarization problem.
- Large-scale networking
PeaceCon 2023 — The "Skinny Agenda" is out for the Alliance for Peacebuilding annual meeting to be held May 3-5 in-person and online. - De-Escalation Strategies
Higher Ed’s Delicate Dance: Safeguarding Freedoms and Stewarding Culture — Kristen Hansen examines curricular and co-curricular (outside the classroom) approaches to navigating political conflicts on college campuses. - Psychological Complexity
The Paradox of Transformation: Acceptance as a Precondition to Change — An insightful article from NetworkWeaver about Carl Rogers' paradox: The curious paradox is that when I accept myself, just as I am, then I can change. - System Thinking Strategies
7 Ideas to Reduce Political Polarization. And Save America from Itself. — Sensible things that we could all do to actually help limit the polarization that we complain so much about. - Power-Sharing Strategies
Youth-Inclusive Guide to Peace Mediation — Mediation processes that include young people are more likely to generate better conflict analyses, broader national ownership, greater legitimacy, and improved prospects of more sustainable peace. - Constructive Communication
Americans seek stories of solutions and inspiration from the media — From More in Common, a study showing Americans want the media to provide a balance of positive and negative stories and more solutions-oriented reporting - De-Escalation Strategies
ONE TEAM: Using sports to build bridges between Jewish and Bedouin teenage girls — During these heart-wrenching times in Israel, Danny Hakim's inspiring work offers a touching, optimistic, much-needed break from the painful daily Israeli news cycle. - De-Escalation Strategies
A Tale of Two Karens — They are political polar opposites, but through Braver Angels, they’re forging a path toward productive conversations, and even friendship.
Beyond Intractability in Context
From around the web, more insight into the nature of our conflict problems, limits of business-as-usual thinking, and things people are doing to try to make things better.
- Psychological Complexity
We’ll never solve our many crises without this one ingredient — Important insight into the complex psychological effects of thinking too much about the world's big problems and not enough about its many wonders. - Communication Obstacles
The Daily Me — Reflections on a media environment in which we all edit our own "newsfeeds" and the danger that we will edit out inconvenient truths on both the left of the right. - Developing a Unifying Vision
Can Humanism Save Us? — As we continue to struggle to find a vision for a future in which we would all like to live, thoughts on what the long tradition of humanistic philosophy has to teach us. - Reliable Problem Assessments
Partisan Science is Bad for Science and Society — At a time when so many people are being called upon to "trust the science," some serious thoughts on how to make science truly trustworthy. - Overcoming Hate-Mongering Efforts
The ‘Other Side’ Is Not Dumb -- Is it possible we’re not right about everything? — A much-needed call for some old-fashioned humility and serious consideration of the possibility that we might have something to learn from our political opponents. - System Thinking Strategies
How to Be Left Without Being Woke -- Towards a better understanding of status and victimhood. — Ideas for crafting a response to the world's often grotesque inequities that will be more likely to attract the support needed for successful, long-term implementation. - Gender / LBGTQ+
What America gets wrong about gender medicine — A reminder that, even among people who care deeply about the welfare of transgender youth, there is a continuing need for respectful debate over what kind of care is most helpful. - Superpower Conflict
Blundering on the Brink -- The Secret History and Unlearned Lessons of the Cuban Missile Crisis — New information about the 1962 missile crisis in Cuba that brought the world to the brink of nuclear catastrophe with important lessons about the dangers of nuclear brinksmanship. - Saving Democracy
No Labels group raises alarms with third-party presidential preparations — An update on the promise and the potential pitfalls of an effort to empower the more compromise-oriented political center. - Psychological Complexity
This element is critical to human flourishing — yet missing from the news — An exploration of the dangers of focusing exclusively on the intractable nature of our problems. To get people to work to help solve those problems there has to be hope that the solutions will work. - Interstate War
Why Force Fails -- The Dismal Track Record of U.S. Military Interventions — A follow-up on our newsletter on the power strategy mix and the limited utility of force. This article on US military failures over the last 75 years - Developing a Unifying Vision
The Necessity of Patriotism (Even in Times Like These) — An exploration of how patriotism can coexist with an honest assessment of our nation's failings and why it is a key part of the quest for solutions. - Left / Right Conflict
Are There Signs We’re Becoming Less Polarized? — Reason to believe that there are now places in the US where communities are finding ways around our us-vs-them politics and learning that people on the left and the right have something to contribute. - Effective Problem-Solving Efforts
The Problem With Everything-Bagel Liberalism — A pragmatic look at what it takes to really solve problems why trying to solve too many problems at once can be counterproductive.
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