Newsletter #331 — March 16, 2025
Reader Suggested Links
Highlighting links suggested by our readers. Please send us links to things that you find useful.
- US Politics
The Democrats’ Brahmin Left Problem — An exploration of the contradictions inherent in the left's commitment to social justice and its status as members of society's most highly educated elites. - US Politics
There Is a Liberal Answer to the Trump-Musk Wrecking Ball — Another contribution to the debate over how progressives and liberals might best respond to President Trump's dramatic changes. - Saving Democracy
We Dodged A Constitutional Bullet — A report on hopeful, but still precarious, signs that the courts will force Trump to act within legal constraints. - Saving Democracy
The One Question That Really Matters: If Trump Defies the Courts, Then What? — An examination of one of the most important crunch points that will determine whether or not President Trump's authoritarian ambitions will be realized. - Saving Democracy
An Unexpected Trump Bump for the World’s Centrists — Evidence that President Trump's "shock and awe" policies are strengthening centrists and weakening support for right-wing populists around the world. - Disinformation
How Trump is reshaping reality by hiding data — Yet another instance in which political leaders are trying to strengthen their positions by suppressing information that might challenge those positions. - US Politics
Douglas Murray: How MAGA Lost Its Way on Ukraine — An insightful essay exploring the complex history that led to President Trump's Ukraine policy (and the reasons that his constituents support that policy). - Culture and Religion
Trump is reorienting America’s moral compass — Reflections on what the Trump administration is doing to the United States' moral standing around the world.
Colleague Activities
Highlighting things that our conflict and peacebuilding colleagues are doing that contribute to efforts to address the hyper-polarization problem.
- Theories of Change
Don’t Escalate Doesn’t Mean Don’t Fight — An important explanation of why activism can be compatible with bridge-building. - US Politics
Funding the Resistance Is Not a Winning Strategy. Here’s What Is. — Billions spent fighting Trumpian populism hasn’t worked. Practicing a pluralistic approach to grant making might be much more effective. - Peacebuilding
How to Show Up When Your Work Is Under Attack — How can the social sector show up at this moment when it is under such grave attack? Own your work and your success. Speak plainly about the stakes. Bring people in. - Theories of Change
Our Approach to Mediating Self-Determination Conflicts — Conciliation Resources published a collection of resources on mediating self-determination conflicts gleaned from its three-year partnership with Sasakawa Peace Foundation. - Race / Anti-Racism
The Pluralist's Paradox — A controversial and thought-provoking argument that the more you empower minorities, the weaker they become. - Peacebuilding
A Nuanced Conversation About USAID — This podcast from Making Peace Visible explores the successes and failures of USAID over the last 20 years. - Civic Education
Growing Young Peacemakers: The Why and How of Youth Peace Education — Peace Catalyst hosted a conversation with U.S. peace educator Julie Lillie and Nigerian peace educator Moses Abolade on how to train young peacebuilders around the world effectively. - Constructive Communication
‘Disagree Better’ by the numbers. Did Gov. Cox’s initiative work? — A new study by a Stanford sociology professor found that the National Governor's Association's ‘Disagree Better’ videos decrease polarization among viewers. - Civic Education
Rotary Peace Fellowships — Rotary International is accepting applications for the 2026-27 Rotary Peace Fellowship. Fellows can earn a master’s degree or a postgraduate certificate in disciplines related to peace and development. - Non-Violence
Baseline Study for the NEST Project — Nonviolent Peaceforce is carrying out a survey to set a baseline on the current policy and programming practices for Unarmed Civilian Protection and other forms of direct protection from violence. - De-Escalation Strategies
To Overcome Our Divides, We Must Try to Understand the Other Side’s Anger — A reminder that, in this time of even more rapidly increasing hostility toward one another, we still don't really understand why the other side hates us so much. - Developing a Unifying Vision
Standing on solid ground in uncertain times — An article from the Foundation Against Intolerance and Racism, describing their efforts to stay focused, despite ongoing political changes, on the set of universal principles that they believe span the political divide. - Theories of Change
Civic Tech Field Guide — An introduction to the world’s largest collection of projects using tech for the common good. - Developing a Unifying Vision
Introducing the Beacon Project, an Effort to Build a New Civic Vision for America — From More in Common, The Beacon Project will combine polling data, cutting-edge methods in data science, and disciplinary experts to build a new vision for civic life in America.
News and Opinion
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. (Formerly, Beyond Intractability in Context.)
- US Politics
How Not to Resist Donald Trump — For Donald Trump's opponents who want to make things better and not worse -- a list of things to avoid. - Israel / Hamas War
The Case for Palestinian Pragmatism — A thoughtful Palestinian perspective on the plight of his people, the terrible cost of refusing to consider compromise, and hopes for a better future. - Race / Anti-Racism
Was Integration the Wrong Goal? — A look at the long shadow cast by The 1954 Brown vs the Board of Education Supreme Court decision and the surprisingly large number of Blacks who think that the integration of the schools that it ordered was a mistake. - US Politics
Even if the Democrats Can Move to the Center, It May Not Help — A more detailed assessment, with lots of links, of the difficulties Democrats are likely to face if they decide to counter Trump by "moving to the center." - US Politics
Michael Lewis On DOGE's Victims — An interview with Michael Lewis, author of "Who Is Government" --- an individual who has done extensive research into why the work of our now much maligned civil servants is so important. - Race / Anti-Racism
The Future of DEI — From the Journal of Free Black Thought, reflections on the failure of DEI and thoughts about how its most laudable goals might more effectively be achieved. - Social Complexity
This cycle is ending — An intriguing argument that many of today's big problems are attributable to intergenerational dynamics that, over a period of about 50 years, reshaped society in relatively predictable ways. - US Politics
Machiavelli Would Hate Trump — For those who may view President Trump in Machiavellian terms, surprising news that Machiavelli would not have approved. - Superpower Conflict
The Return of Spheres of Influence — From Foreign Affairs, an in-depth look at what a new world order based upon "spheres of influence" and balance of power global politics might look like. - Israel / Hamas War
Israel's biggest threat is now the Western Left. — An important reminder that the most important front in Israel's ongoing wars is the battle for public support within Western democracies. - Theories of Change
The Old Idea That Could Give New Life to Progressive Politics — An in-depth exploration of the concept of "solidarity" and the role that it could play in strengthening movements for positive social change. - Disinformation
The Politicization of Expertise — An in-depth examination of one of the key elements of our current predicament -- the politicalization of supposedly objective scientific analysis. - US Politics
Snap Out of It, Democrats — From the Wall Street Journal, an appeal for Democrats to abandon ineffectual and silly tactics and become the kind of effective opposition party that our two-party system requires. - Disinformation
Trump Is Breaking the Fourth Wall — A description of how the President's deep understanding of the way in which television works is enabling him to bypass many of the constraints that the media normally provides. - Social Complexity
Anyone Who Knows What's About to Happen Is Lying — An argument for embracing the high levels of unavoidable uncertainty that we all now face and for learning how to prepare ourselves for a variety of possible contingencies. - Israel / Hamas War
The West is facing an Islamic holy war — A controversial, but surprisingly well documented, explanation of the many ways in which Islam and the West are engaged in an intense "grey zone" battle. - Race / Anti-Racism
How a Key Civil Rights Era Shift Paved the Way for Today’s Political Fallout... and Why It Matters — A retrospective look at an enormously consequential step in the evolution of civil rights law -- the idea that discrimination can exist without intent to discriminate. - Family / Gender / LBGTQ+
How I Became a Wife — A reminder that progressive views on sex, gender, and family are not universal and eloquent defense of traditional family structures. - US Politics
This thing will fail — An article looking ahead at the weaknesses in the Trump administration's cultural transformation efforts. - Education
How Did Academia Not See It Coming — Insightful, and nonstandard, reflections on the mistakes that academia made that caused public trust in and support for academic institutions to collapse. - Race / Anti-Racism
Working at Anheuser-Busch, I Saw What Went Wrong With the D.E.I. Movement — A first-person account describing many ways in which, before Trump, DEI policies influenced decision-making at a major corporation. - US Politics
Don’t Trust the Trumpsplainers — A story about the big question, is there a clear and defensible rationale behind Trump's actions or is it just simple, vindictive chaos? - Psychological Complexity
The "everyone is biased" bias — An argument that our efforts to eliminate bias may in fact be promoting a different kind of bias.
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About the MBI Newsletters
Two or three times a week, Guy and Heidi Burgess, the BI Directors, share some of our thoughts on political hyper-polarization and related topics. We also share essays from our colleagues and other contributors, and every week or so, we devote one newsletter to annotated links to outside readings that we found particularly useful relating to U.S. hyper-polarization, threats to peace (and actual violence) in other countries, and related topics of interest. Each Newsletter is posted on BI, and sent out by email through Substack to subscribers. You can sign up to receive your copy here and find the latest newsletter here or on our BI Newsletter page, which also provides access to all the past newsletters, going back to 2017.
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