Newsletter #457 — May 28, 2026

by Guy Burgess and Heidi Burgess

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Highlighted Links

A few suggestions about links that we think are especially interesting.

• Disinformation
  Inside the Digital Intifada — In the context of October 7, a surprising article (with far-reaching implications) about the sophisticated and deceptive ways in which combatants are influencing world opinion.
• Social / Economic Complexity
  The Crisis of the West Isn’t About Who Governs, but That No One Can — An illuminating argument that we have misdiagnosed our central political problem. Instead of blaming our political opponents for our difficulties, we ought to focus on the flaws in our system of governance that are making those difficulties so intractable.
• Saving Democracy
  The Part of the Declaration Nobody Reads — As we prepare for the United States 250th anniversary, an essay that explains what we're missing by not reading the entirety of the Declaration of Independence.
• Developing a Unifying Vision
  The Book That Changed How I Think About Liberalism — More insight into the complex relationship between the many strains of liberal thought and efforts to protect and strengthen democracy.
• Psychological Complexity
  The Era of Rational Discourse Is Over — A profile of the late Jürgen Habermas -- one of the world's leading thinkers on the relationship between democracy, debate, and back-and-forth argument.
• Developing a Unifying Vision
  Founding Principles — Drawn from an examination of human nature, this article explores the principles and virtues that shape the American republic.
• Social / Economic Complexity
  The West Is on a Suicide Mission — An interview with the author of "Suicidal Empathy" -- an important, controversial, and thought-provoking new book that asks hard questions about some of the most fundamental beliefs of the conflict and peacebuilding fields.

Reader Suggested Links

Highlighting links suggested by our readers. Please send us links to things that you find useful.

• Israel, Hamas, Iran, and Related Wars
  Israeli nonprofit hopes new report on Oct. 7 sexual violence becomes ‘watershed moment,’ gets attention of world parliaments — A story about an exhaustive new report that documents the many instances of sexual violence that occurred on October 7, 2023.
• Progressive Left
  Progressive Activists Are Sometimes on the Wrong Side of History — With respect to Gaza, Hamas, and Israel, a reminder that no political group is infallible and that all views should be subject to challenge and debate.
• Race / Anti-Racism
  “The Civil Rights Act of 1964 Does Not Include Whites” — An article (and a trailer for an upcoming movie) that seeks to explain why so many people object so strongly to the anti-racism, DEI movement.
• Israel, Hamas, Iran, and Related Wars
  I’m a Democrat. My Party Has a Double Standard on Antisemitism. — A helpful contribution to the ongoing debate within the Democratic party over how to respond to Israel's ongoing wars and the rising tide of antisemitism.
• Psychological Complexity
  Why is anger so addictive? A psychologist weighs in. — More on the complexities of human psychology and the central role that anger plays in our thinking.
• Education
  Something Big Is Happening on Campus — From David Brooks, welcome news that our institutions of higher education are starting to look seriously at their failings, and more importantly, starting to make needed corrections.
• Israel, Hamas, Iran, and Related Wars
  “Rape is just part of war”: what happened when I spoke in Amsterdam — For those trying to understand hate, unspeakable atrocities, and antisemitism, a controversial story about propaganda, intimidation, moral inversion, and the pro-Palestinian movement.

Colleague Activities

Highlighting things that our conflict and peacebuilding colleagues are doing that contribute to efforts to address the hyper-polarization problem.

• Media Reform
  Making Sense with More in Common: Iran war, cost of living, and political violence — A new series to help you make sense of the week ahead. They share charts and data points from their research and recent polls to help you make sense of the coming week's news.
• Psychological Complexity
  Authoritarian Collaboration Fueled Transnational Repression in 2025 — Freedom House’s latest report found that 30 governments -- including six new governments -- interfered in other countries and fueled transnational repression in 2025, providing further evidence of rising democratic backsliding around the world.
• Psychological Complexity
  Case Study: The Unfiltered Mindset of a Deep State Believer — David Beckemeyer interviews a MAGA "true believer," offering a case study in radical political skepticism through an unedited look at the clashing epistemologies and 'fact gaps' that make our national division feel so absolute.
• Developing a Unifying Vision
  Pluralism Is Infrastructure — An essay that starts with the assumption that "everyone wants pluralism." It then explores the fact that there is little in American political life that is focused on making pluralism possible.
• Peacebuilding
  Alliance for Peacebuilding's 2025 Annual Report — This report outlines AfP’s achievements over the last year and where the organization is going in 2026 and beyond.
• Israel, Hamas, Iran, and Related Wars
  Who Was Really Behind October 7? — A thoughtful effort to establish who exactly was responsible for the horrors of October 7.
• Media Reform
  This Nonprofit Whispers in Hollywood’s Ear About Polarization. They Hope You Tune In. — Bridge Entertainment Labs aims to be the entertainment consultancy for the bridge-building field. Its goal is to move beyond “us-versus-them” narratives and toward “a cohesive you-and-I story of what we can build together.”
• Effective Problem-Solving
  Deliberative Tech — The Deliberative Tech Hub shares insights from practice and research on the use of deliberative tech to facilitate dialogue, bridging, and inclusion in peace processes across divides and in polarized communities.
• Constructive Communication
  New NCDD-ALA Facilitation Guide on Leading Polarizing Conversations is now live! — This 45-page guide provides libraries with practical tools for convening community conversations on divisive issues through planning, conversation design, facilitation best practices, and follow-up strategies.
• Artificial Intelligence
  Packard Foundation Releases Landmark Report on How AI Is Reshaping Democratic Systems — This report synthesizes insights from various stakeholders on how AI disrupts democratic institutions, elections, government, information ecosystems, civic participation, labor markets, and the economy.
• Constructive Communication
  Essential Partners Demonstrates How Dialogue Can Bridge Decades-Long Divides on Firearm Policy — An article describing Essential Partners' facilitation of the Bridging the Divide on Firearm Policy Initiative which brought together 23 gun rights and gun safety advocates to come up with a comprehensive policy all could agree to.
• Artificial Intelligence
  Building civic resilience in the age of AI — Report from a panel discussion examining the potential benefits and dangers of AI to democracy and civic health.
• Civil Society
  Kettering-Gallup Study Finds Community Involvement and Civic Education Strengthen Democratic Participation Despite Widespread Barriers — A Kettering/Gallup study of 20,000+ Americans finds widespread doubt about whether citizens have real influence in democracy, but shows that community involvement and civic education strongly increase civic confidence and participation.
• Artificial Intelligence
  AI and Democracy: Mapping the Intersections — AI poses substantial threats and opportunities for democracy. Despite the threats, AI technologies can also improve representative politics, citizen participation, and governance if wisely developed.
• Trust / Trust Earning
  Not All Contact Builds Trust — Terry Kyllo reflects on the ways in which inter-group contact can undermine trust and ways of counteracting this effect by promoting more constructive group interactions.
• Effective Problem-Solving
  Participatory Budgeting: What the Evidence Really Shows About Transparency, Trust, and Fiscal Discipline — Participatory budgeting (PB) has moved from a niche democracy innovation to a mainstream governance tool, now used in thousands of cities worldwide. This report evaluates these processes.
• Left / Right Conflict
  You Need Conservatives. Here’s How to Engage Them in Your Mission. — Insights and tips from a conservative who believes nonprofits will fail in their mission if they muster support only from people who think -- and vote -- like they do.
• Authoritarianism
  Beware the Illusion of the Linear Authoritarian Timeline: On Ruptures, Breakups, and Detours — Many people in many countries see democracy eroding and think that authoritarianism is inevitable. It is not!
• Artificial Intelligence
  An Unexpected Solution to AI Economic Uncertainty — More in Common found that the American public broadly supports national service programs as a potential response to AI-driven economic disruption for young people.
• Violence
  The Impact Projects' Security Map — A report on a new Security Map based on a comprehensive dataset which systematically documents violent threats to America’s public servants.
• Constructive Communication
  Examining Generational Divides – Political Attitudes and Behavior — Recent polling conducted by YouGov reveals significant generational divides in the ways people identify with political representation, conceive of government legitimacy, consume information, and interact with one another.

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.)

• Israel, Hamas, Iran, and Related Wars
  The Paper Trail of Nicholas Kristof’s Smear — For those trying to make sense of the controversy over Israeli treatment of Palestinian prisoners, an article that that does an exceptionally good job of separating unfounded accusations from legitimate criticisms.  
• Israel, Hamas, Iran, and Related Wars
  I saw America vilified in Iran. Then came the culture shock. — From an Iranian immigrant, an informative perspective on U.S. and Iranian culture.
• Psychological Complexity
  The Psychology of Disinformation — An exploration of how propagandists use a complex understanding of human psychology to manipulate people.
• Israel, Hamas, Iran, and Related Wars
  How three ‘isms’ failed the people of the Middle East — For those wishing to understand the contemporary Middle East, a look at how nationalism, socialism, and Islamism have reshaped the region over the last three quarters of a century.
• Media Reform
  We Took Away the Phones — Now What? — Reassuring news that people are now starting to think beyond simple efforts to remove phones from public schools. The real trick is figuring out how to cultivate healthy student communities.
• Artificial Intelligence
  AI's big messaging pivot — An in-depth look at the AI industry's shifting messaging campaign -- a campaign focused on claims that the technology will ultimately turn into a job creator.
• Interstate War
  Tyrants are losing wars — A hopeful, but still tragic, argument that aggressive tyrants who seek to dominate others are, for the most part, failing.
• Artificial Intelligence
  This Is What Should Unite the Right and the Left on A.I. — Proposed consensus steps that those on the right and the left might be willing to take to reduce the threats posed by AI-related technologies.
• Social / Economic Complexity
  A Hidden Liability for U.S. Cities: Looming Infrastructure Repair Costs — One of the ways in which societies resolve disputes in ways which leave everyone feeling better off, is by deferring infrastructure maintenance in ways that impose extra burdens on the next generation -- people without a "seat at the table."
• Social / Economic Complexity
  Humanity Is Still Evolving—and Fast — An important reminder that the essence of complexity -- the evolutionary dynamics that produced humanity and the wonders of the natural and social environment  -- continue to operate.
• Psychological Complexity
  The Kind of Men Who Flummox Trump — A description of the vast conflict that exists between those with strong and altruistic cultural beliefs and those who simply struggle to accumulate as much wealth and power as possible.
• Education
  Colleges, Maybe Try Teaching! — More thoughts on a critically important topic, how to pass on the knowledge and values needed to sustain free democratic societies.
• Artificial Intelligence
  A.I. Populism Is Here. And No One Is Ready. — A story about a new kind of populism -- one capable of uniting the left and the right in a popular rebellion against the many threats posed by AI technologies.
• Social / Economic Complexity
  Creators and Destroyers of Worlds — An essay exploring the inevitable downsides that accompany humanity's great leaps forward and an argument that despite the pain, progress is generally worth it.
• World Order
  Samizdat #1: The Betrayal of the Rules-Based Order — It is said that things fail slowly, then all at once. This article explores the slow erosion of the rules-based world order -- an erosion that preceded the ongoing collapse of that order.
• US Politics
  Trump Has Gone From Unpredictable to Unreliable — Supportive coalitions are the key to most every type of social and political power. To sustain such coalitions, one must be seen as trustworthy by coalition partners. (This is an area where Trump is failing.)
• Immigration
  Why won’t Democrats moderate on immigration? Here’s a clue. — A surprising story about the electoral impact of non-citizens -- while they can't vote, they are included in the census (and they are counted in the apportionment of legislative districts).
• Artificial Intelligence
  What A.I. Did to My College Class — From a member of the first AI-era cohort of college students , a first person account of how the technology has changed life on campus.
• Freedom of Speech 
  Ten Arguments Against Free Speech — A helpful article for those trying to decide on the appropriate balance between free speech rights and limits on those rights.
• Race / Anti-Racism
  Schrödinger’s Race — Thought-provoking insights into strategies for thinking sensibly about our complex and interlocking identities.

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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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