Colleague Activities
We are always looking for people doing interesting, intractable conflict-related projects to feature on our Colleague Activities Blog. See the Blog Homepage for information on how to submit your work.
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The Brain on Authoritarianism
Better understanding the brain's response to fear, toxic othering, and threats to social identity will help pro-democracy organizers to confront the authoritarian playbook.
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Learn This Term: ‘Whole of Society’
This paper highlights the overlooked inner dimension of system change, and offers systems thinkers the language to advocate for psychological, social and spiritual factors crucial to sustainable solutions.
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Should Abortion Laws Be the Same Everywhere? – BCB #112
How each party is handling abortion underscores a perennial tension between two deeply American principles: universal rights and self-determination.
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The Mediators' Foundation Newsletter
The Mediators' Foundation highlights useful articles by its members and colleagues that relat to helping us all build a better, more just and more peaceful world.
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Are Grievances Running Our Nation and Is Political Forgiveness Our Way Out?
The June issue of Political Forgiveness Monthly is a deep dive into how we as a country got to this high tide of grievance and how humility can pull us back to a place of listening and mutual trust.
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Harnessing our Power to End Political Violence: 2024 Guide
A guide for communities across the United States to organize to counter political violence. The guide is about taking action "because individuals and communities must organize in order to bring about a better democracy and country."
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The Quad, Maritime Security, and Climate Change
The Quadrilateral Security Dialogue with Australia, Japan, India and the US, is now broadening its focus beyond simply countering China to combatting climate change and other security threats in the Indo-Pacific region.
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"We should not allow violence to be our answer"
More in Common surveyed Americans after Trump was shot. They found Americans were concerned about future violence, yet fears may be based on skewed perceptions of their fellow Americans’ support for political violence.
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A Free Education Resource that Helps Students Engage Across Differences in Better Ways
The guide includes best practices, resources, and recommendations for those working in middle school to college education to promote critical thinking, ideological diversity, empathy, respect, and tolerance of others.
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Podcast: Leaning into Paradox: How We Can Block, Bridge & Build Our Democratic Future Together
An audio recording of Horizons’ Julia Roig and Jarvis Williams’ session at the recent Othering & Belonging Institute conference on the "block, bridge, and build" strategy.
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Are You Really Thinking Critically? Let's Find Out!
Separating Critical Thought from Cynical Noise with David Beckenmeyer and science educator Melanie Trecek-King.
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The Thinking Citizen
Ashok Panikkar asks whether this is an oxymoron or an existential imperative. Given that successful democracies are dependent upon THE PEOPLE, he concludes that deep thought is essential for democracy.
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Between Thick and Thin: Improving Public Engagement through a Wicked Problem Lens
One of the key concepts tied to deliberative engagement is the recognition that many of the issues we must engage in our communities can be best understood as wicked problems
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To understand unreasonable reactions to Trump's shooting, imagine Biden being shot
A "turnabout test" can help us see emotional biases in our thinking -- our colleague Zach Ellwood got this op-ed in Newsweek.
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5 Ways to Build Bridging Social Capital and Develop a Sense of Common Purpose
Five ways to counter the sense of loneliness and helplessness that is driving polarization and the weakening of our community and civic ties.
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From Waves to Ecosystems: The Next Stage of Democratic Innovation
This white paper reviews the limitations of elections, the different waves of democratic innovation and efforts to connect them, and key challenges and strategies for building healthy ecosystems of democracy.
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The American experiment – a democratic republic – is worth defending
Seth David Radwell argues that we need a deep appreciation for why our democratic republic, with all its historical chapters of tragic injustice, and present day flaws and warts, is still the best example of self-government in our planet’s recorded history.
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Practitioner Mobilization For Democracy - Launch Event Recap
A summary of (with videos from) NCDD's launch of their Practitioner Mobilization effort, seeking to get mediators and other third parties involved in the effort to encourage constructive democratic engagement.
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How polarization will destroy itself
Political polarization and extremism are much more fragile than we realize, as long as we maintain freedom of speech, rule of law, market competition, and free and fair elections.
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Overcoming Ideological Inferences: Breaking Free from Snap Judgments
A conversation with Carson Sander on how we make snap judgments about people and how to avoid doing that to break down the prevailing political polarization.
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Citizens for Ethics
Using bold legal actions and in-depth investigations, CREW targets government officials who sacrifice the common good to special interests and personal gain.
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Adapt: Hope in the Face of the Polycrisis
The second of four articles on "the polycrisis" This one looks at characteristics critical to adaptability: trust, civic capacity, accountable leadership, reliable information, functional infrastructure, and education, among others.
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Online Community Organizing Is Not an Oxymoron
Daniel Stid's report on a conversation with Deepti Doshi, co-director of New Public, a nonprofit working to imagine new media and technologies that can build constructive online spaces that serve democratic purposes.
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Project 2025: A cross-partisan approach
The start of a month-long series of articles examining each policy area of Project 2025 with a cross-partisan lens.
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What, Me Think?
A government ‘of the people, by the people, and for the people’ is utterly dependent upon- wait for it…. the PEOPLE. Ashok Pannikar's initial Substack essay on democracy and critical thinking.