Newsletter #345 — April 20, 2025
by Guy Burgess and Heidi Burgess
Reader Suggested Links
Highlighting links suggested by our readers. Please send us links to things that you find useful.
- US Politics
I Should Have Seen This Coming — From David Brooks, a personal account of the long sequence of events that led to President Trump's surprising rise to power. - US Politics
Trump Is Gaslighting Us — A revealing look at the psychological propaganda techniques that Trump uses to free himself from the constraints of objective reality. - Superpower Conflict
I Just Saw the Future. It Was Not in America. — From Thomas Friedman, report on his recent trip to China and the many ways in which he sees US power and its ability to influence the 21st-century world as declining. - Immigration
Sweden Has a Big Problem — For those looking for an explanation of the complex of ways in which immigration is transforming European societies, an illuminating report from Sweden - US Politics
Trump Has Already Botched His Own Bad Tariff Plan — An exceptionally clear and persuasive explanation of why he Trump's tariff plan can't possibly achieve its desired objectives. - US Politics
Why Cory Booker's Speech Matters — An explanation of the theory of change behind Cory Booker's marathon speech on the Senate floor. - Israel / Hamas War
How to Manufacture a Genocide: A Masterclass in Propaganda — An effort to understand why Israel's efforts to defend itself are so widely seen as genocidal and why other, objectively more genocidal actors somehow escape scrutiny. - Developing a Unifying Vision
Revisiting the Social Contract — As we try to imagine a future in which we move beyond our hyperpolarized politics, an essay that looks back on the origins of the social contract that has held so many societies together.
Colleague Activities
Highlighting things that our conflict and peacebuilding colleagues are doing that contribute to efforts to address the hyper-polarization problem.
- Psychological Complexity
Don't Let Anyone Tell You Who To Hate — Shocking data showing that many Americans now see Canada and the EU as an enemy leads Jonathan Stray and Eve Sneider to write about how we can conduct our own "meta-misperception intervention." - Civil Society
It's Time to Reimagine Civic Responsibility — More in Common Senior Advisor and Beacon Project Director Daniel Yudkin reflects on the duties of citizenship. - Theories of Change
8 Tips for Activists Who Want to Reduce Polarization — Zach Elwood offers eight tips for doing activism while trying to reduce toxicity. - Peacebuilding
April 2025: What we’re telling Congress about peacebuilding — Peacebuilding and conflict resolution are the issues of our time. Over the past five years, the number and intensity of armed conflicts have doubled, at a terrible cost. But peacebuilding can bring breakthroughs in peace, trust, and prosperity. - US Politics
What Trump's Re-Election Means for Democracy: A Call for Transformation, Not Just Defense — Our colleague, Duncan Autrey, wrote this right after the election, and we missed it. But his call for using this moment to transform our culture, not just defend it against Trump's assault, is still very valid and important. - Hate Mongering
When Outrage Goes Viral: What’s Ragebait and How to Spot It — Ragebait seeks to provoke anger for financial or political gain — or even just to get attention for attention’s sake. This article explains more of what is happening, and how to resist -- even if you are angry. - Media Reform
Outrage 62 – How Systems Like Community Notes on Twitter/X Aim to Break the Cycle of Misinformation – Paul Resnick — What if the same technology that fuels outrage and division could also help us bridge divides and lower the temperature? In this episode of Outrage Overload, we dive deep into the role of technology in shaping what we see—and believe—online. - Theories of Change
Learning to Overcome Conflict: Global Insights from Political Adversaries — Civic Genius spent two weeks with two exceptional South African leaders who offered a model for working across profound differences. While their challenges are by no means an exact analogue to ours, their experience can guide us forward. - Saving Democracy
State Citizens' Assemblies: Time to Refresh the U.S. Constitution — The founders gave us a revolutionary document in 1787. Now, as our democracy fractures under polarization and systemic dysfunction, it's our turn to revitalize it. Citizens' Assemblies can help us do that. - Authoritarianism
Pluralism cannot exist under authoritarianism — Will foundations get picked off one by one as law firms have? Do we need collective security for pro-democracy organizations? There's no pluralism under authoritarianism. What does that mean for the pluralism field? - Leadership
When leaders fail, people... step up? — While the leadership of many institutions seems to be bowing down to Trump's autocratic demands, many of the people who work in these institutions are refusing to go quietly. It is these individuals (who we normally think of as having less power) who are doing the hard work of defending democracy. - Networking
Exploring multiscalar networks: What makes networks effective and transformative? — June Holley, 'grandmother of networks' joined the Socialroots team for one of the monthly Network Coordination Commons calls to talk about -- and invite collaboration on -- her current inquiries into multiscalar networks. - Theories of Change
What is Systems Gardening? — An explanation of how those seeking the strengthen complex social systems could benefit from thinking about their work using organic (not mechanical) metaphors. - Developing a Unifying Vision
Targeted Universalism Explained — Targeted Universalism is a framework developed by the Othering & Belonging Institute that invites members of any community to co-create new structures designed to serve everyone, not just a few.
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.)
- Saving Democracy
Make Congress Great Again — For those who might share the public's generally low opinion of Congress, ideas for improving Congress in ways that would allow it to earn back the lost trust it has lost. - Israel / Hamas War
WATCH: Gazans Clash with Hamas as Historic Protests Escalate — New information about the brave Gazans who are trying to lay a real foundation for peace by forcing Hamas out of Gaza. - Rule of Law
What Recourse Does the Supreme Court Actually Have? — Useful information for those trying to think through what might happen if (maybe when) President Trump decides to directly defy a Supreme Court order. - Freedom of Speech
Censorship is Anti-American — A well-documented and multifaceted essay explaining the many ways in which free speech is under attack in the United States. - Education
It’s Easy to Understand Why Universities Have Lost Public Trust — Thoughts on how universities might be able to rebuild lost public trust -- trust that is critical to higher education's ability resist the political pressures that can undermine its objectivity. - Authoritarianism
The authoritarian takeover attempt is here — An especially well-documented explanation of why so many people are so deeply alarmed by the way in which Kilmar Abrego Garcia was imprisoned in El Salvador. - Israel / Hamas War
Sen. Dave McCormick: The Attack on Gov. Shapiro Was an Assault on Democracy — Reflections on Passover and the firebomb attack and attempted assassination of the Jewish governor of Pennsylvania. - Effective Problem-Solving
Come With Me if You Want to Survive an Age of Extinction — A thought-provoking, but depressing, inventory of the many important aspects of our lives that are now threatened with extinction (and a call for us to do what is necessary to prevent this from happening). - Superpower Conflict
Brace Yourself. Trump’s Trade War With China Will Get Even Uglier. — As we slide ever deeper into a trade war with China (a country that supplies so many of the things we depend upon), thoughts about what might come next. - Superpower Conflict
How World Order Changes — From Joseph Nye (the man who coined the term "soft power"), his thoughts on the radical ongoing changes in the world political order. - Climate / Environment / Health
The Troubled Energy Transition — From a thoughtful, credible source (not your typical, unprincipled climate deniers), news that, because we misunderstood the world energy market, things are actually going quite badly. - Nihilists
The Only Consistent Thread of Trumpism — Reflections on President Trump's almost nihilistic focus on dismantling governmental institutions (without, apparently, giving any thought to what comes next). - Theories of Change
What’s Happening Is Not Normal. America Needs an Uprising That Is Not Normal. — From David Brooks, a thoughtful but passionate call for a massive uprising against President Trump's efforts to dismantle so many liberal democratic institutions (including many favored by conservatives). - US Politics
The Question Progressives Refuse to Answer — A provocative essay that challenges Democrats (the so-called party of government) to think about why they have so much difficulty actually governing. - Superpower Conflict
Reasons to Be Optimistic About a Post-American Order — An essay that offers a hopeful vision for a world in which the US is far less prominent. - US Politics
A Different Kind of Anti-Trump Resistance Is Brewing — A report on how besieged federal workers are trying to protect their jobs and the institutions in which they work (institutions that we all depend upon). - Psychological Complexity
Schadenfreude and the American Soul — An ethical call to resist the temptation to revel in the suffering of our enemies. - US Politics
I Used to Hate Trump. Now I'm a MAGA Lefty. — For those still having trouble understanding Trump's popularity and appeal, yet another essay that tries to explain why so many have given up on the left. - Race / Anti-Racism
Teach Pluralism, Not Antiracism — A persuasive argument for an alternative (and much less divisive) strategy for promoting a genuinely diverse society -- one which offers everyone valued place. - Education
The Right Is Winning the Battle Over Higher Education — An explanation of why those on the political right are so supportive of the changes in higher education that President Trump is demanding. - Hate Mongering
Radical Moderation and the Politics of Fear — A provocative exploration of the nature and utility of fear and panic (for a time in which there really do seem to be big dangers everywhere).
Please Contribute Your Ideas To This Discussion!
In order to prevent bots, spammers, and other malicious content, we are asking contributors to send their contributions to us directly. If your idea is short, with simple formatting, you can put it directly in the contact box. However, the contact form does not allow attachments. So if you are contributing a longer article, with formatting beyond simple paragraphs, just send us a note using the contact box, and we'll respond via an email to which you can reply with your attachment. This is a bit of a hassle, we know, but it has kept our site (and our inbox) clean. And if you are wondering, we do publish essays that disagree with or are critical of us. We want a robust exchange of views.
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.
NOTE! If you signed up for this Newsletter and don't see it in your inbox, it might be going to one of your other emails folder (such as promotions, social, or spam). Check there or search for beyondintractability@substack.com and if you still can't find it, first go to our Substack help page, and if that doesn't help, please contact us.
If you like what you read here, please ....
