Constructive Conflict Massive Open Online Seminar (MOOS)
Selected Seminar Posts
You can subscribe to Selected Posts on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn.
Or, if you prefer, you can subscribe to the more extensive series of All Posts, also on
Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn.
In addition, lists of recent posts are available separately for each BI Section:
Things You Can Do To Help | Conflict Frontiers | Conflict Fundamentals
Beyond Intractability in Context | Colleague Activities
- Mass Media -- Everything we know about world events is filtered through the media. When those filters are flawed we can wind up fighting against our interests. #mbi_fundamentals
- Constructive Escalation -- By choosing one's conflict strategies carefully, it is possible to build support without the destructive consequences that usually accompany escalation. #mbi_fundamentals
- Destructive Escalation -- Destructive escalation is the most dangerous force on the planet. The "enemy" is not the other side, it's the escalation. We must learn how to control it. #mbi_fundamentals
- Morton Deutsch on Understanding and Overcoming Oppression -- In order to win the struggle against oppression, you need to understand its multifaceted nature. This recently updated series of essays can help. #mbi_fundamentals
- Dehumanization in Politics -- Political rhetoric has been moving toward increasingly dehumanized enemy images. If we want to save democracy we have to reverse this trend--NOW! #mbi_cci
- Principles of Justice and Fairness -- Like, beauty, "justice" is "in they eye of the beholder. " Or is it not? Can it be objectively measured? #mbi_fundamentals
- Civil Rights Mediation Oral History Project -- Stories from people with vast experience in de-escalating and resolving the most difficult racial, ethnic, and sexual orientation conflicts. #mbi_cci
- The "Two Taproot (or Fuses) Theory" of Social Unrest -- To prevent violence, you need to respond to more than the immediate incident. You need to look at the structures and processes that led to it. #mbi_cci
- Theories of Change -- Expressions of anger and unfocused demands are unlikely to fix things. You need a workable plan and a strategy for building the needed support. #mbi_cci
- Into-the-Sea Framing in 2020 USA -- This black/white, there's only room for one of us in this space is not a recipe for peace or justice. It's a recipe for war. #mbi_cci
- Sanda Kaufman: Back to Basics: Making Sense of Current Events - Can Framing Help? -- Better framing can contribute to depolarization, mutual understanding, productive dialogue, and real problem solving. Why don't we work on that? #mbi_cci
- Identify--and Scale Up--Your Areas of Influence -- As we struggle to do what we can to help address today's tough problems, it's worth thinking about our areas of influence and how they might be expanded. #mbi_cci
- Theories of Change -- This essay catalogs the many theories of change used by peacebuilders with the goal of giving us all ideas for increasing our effectiveness. #mbi_fundamentals
- The US Government Has a Long Way to Go with Reconciliation: Japanese Internment Camps. -- 1988 Civil Liberties Act, with all its imperfections and incompleteness, is proof that the United States is capable initiating reconciliation #mbi_knowbase
- The Intersections of Civil Discourse and Privilege -- Civil discourse is not intended to change minds of others, but to help the participants to be curious and grow themselves. #mbi_knowbase
- The Mass Media's Role in Conflict -- Our conflict problems are largely media problems--problems that lead us to wildly different images of the nature of problems like COVID or racism. #mbi_cci
- The Remarkable Growth of Cooperative Problem-Solving Resources Since World War II -- In today's troubled times, it's important to remember that learning how to handle conflict more constructively is a long-term process. #mbi_cci
- 2nd, 3rd, 4th... Order Problems -- It's not enough to figure out how to solve problems, we have to figure out how to solve the problems that are preventing us from solving problems. #mbi_frontiers
- How to Make this Moment the Turning Point for Real Change -- President Obama shows us how leaders can respond to crises in ways which bring us together in a spirit of real problem-solving. #mbi_context
- Living with Uncertainty in the COVID-19 Era -- An overview of common mistakes that people make when trying to deal with uncertain situations like COVID-19 (and strategies for avoiding them). #mbi_cci
- The Risk of Large-Scale Civil Unrest and Violence in the United States -- This video lecture, which I put together earlier in the Trump presidency, seems especially relevant now. We are entering a very dangerous period. #mbi_frontiers
- Victimhood -- For a time in which so many have good reasons to think of themselves as victims, it's worth thinking about the implications of victimhood. #mbi_fundamentals
- Conflict Fundamentals Seminar/Blog -- Looking for something worthwhile to do amidst the COVID lockdown? Try reviewing the fundamental building blocks of the conflict and peacebuilding fields. #mbi_fundamentals
- John Lande on the Crisis-New-Normal (CNN) and the Normal-New-Normal (NNN) -- Humanity needs to make a choice. Will we travel down the route of disunity, or will we adopt the path of global solidarity? #mbi_colleague
- Mark Chupp - An Exponential Rise of Trust and Goodness -- Yes, COVID-19 is growing exponentially. But so, too, is goodness and trust, which can be harnessed to counter the virus. #mbi_colleague
