Recent Beyond Intractability Posts
Including Hyper-Polarization Posts
Posts by BI Section
Lists of recent posts are also available separately for each BI Section:
Hyper-Polarization Discussion Posts | Earlier Constructive Conflict Initiative Blog
Things You Can Do To Help | Conflict Frontiers | Conflict Fundamentals
Beyond Intractability in Context | Colleague Activities
- Reflections on the 4th of July (U.S. Independence Day) -- Can the constitution brings us back together, as it was designed to do, or will it push us further apart? Should we, in the United States, be proud or ashamed this Independence Day -- and how can we build pride on the ashes of shame? -- Jul 01
- Why Activists Keep Failing the Causes That Fire Them Up -- A timely analysis of the factors that determine whether the efforts of activists will ultimately produce the desired results. -- Jun 27
- Democracy Lighthouse + More on Communicating with Friends and Family -- Sharing several new ideas that have come to us recently on controlling affective polarization and threats to democracy from the family level on up. -- Jun 26
- America Must Face Its Civic Crisis -- Politics is no longer a space for civic inquiry, argument, and creativity, but a place where civic hope goes to die. But it’s not dead yet. Everyday Americans are demonstrating how a little civic hope can ignite a chain reaction to build more. -- Jun 25
- Something Is Wrong -- A perceptive exploration of the tension between ideological and people-centered politics. -- Jun 24
- Generate Democracy! -- An open LinkedIn Group for the Intermovement Impact Project, an effort to build a "movement of many movements," all working to strengthen U.S. democracy in myriad ways. -- Jun 23
- The Terrorism Warning Lights Are Blinking Red Again -- News that the US counterterrorism establishment is growing increasingly alarmed about the possibility that tensions swirling around Gaza will lead to renewed terrorist attacks in the West. -- Jun 22
- Can the Constitution Reconcile America? -- A first rate, must-read article defending the U.S. Constitution and its many mechanisms for forcing citizens to compromise and work together. -- Jun 22
- Massively Parallel Peace and Democracy Building Links for the Week of June 23, 2024 -- More useful and interesting reading from colleagues and others in allied fields. -- Jun 22
- Democratic Subversion - Part 2 -- Part 2 of 2 newsletters looking at an old, but eerily accurate, description of political events in the United States over the last ten-twenty years, explaining why we are well on our way to a destroyed democracy and what we can do about it. -- Jun 19
- Democratic Subversion - Part 1 -- Part 1 of 2 newsletters looking at an old, but eerily accurate, way of looking at the chain of political events that have done so much to undermine democratic societies in recent decades. -- Jun 17
- Massively Parallel Peace and Democracy Building Links for the Week of June 9, 2024 -- More links to interesting things we -- and our readers -- are reading. -- Jun 12
- Courage, the most important virtue -- An inspiring TED talk explaining the critical role courageous individual action plays in resisting tyranny and authoritarianism. -- Jun 11
- Change the System -- Many Americans agree, our political system is broken. Join forces with those working towards a more perfect American democratic system. -- Jun 11
- Ayaan Hirsi Ali: We Have Been Subverted -- A look at how Russia's four-step subversion and destabilization strategy applies to the ongoing Israeli/Hamas crisis (and deteriorating support for Western values and democracy). -- Jun 09
- Boredom at the End of History, Part I -- From Francis Fukuyama, his thoughts about how well his "end of history" thesis has survived the test of time. -- Jun 09
- Talking with Friends and Family about the Election -- How should we deal with summer family visits when some of our relatives are "on the other side?" Like so many other things, "it depends." -- Jun 09
- The Sins of the Educated Class -- A must read article that explains how the actions of today's highly educated, "knowledge" workers continue to inflame the populist right in ways that genuinely threaten the viability of modern society. -- Jun 08
- The Great Reset -- Peter Coleman suggests 8 steps that Columbia could follow to better understand what caused the chaos of last year, and how such conflicts can be conducted more constructively in the future. -- Jun 05
- Never Bet Against Democracy in the Long Run -- An important and timely reminder that, despite its many problems, democracy has enormous advantages over other systems of social organization. -- Jun 03
- Massively Parallel Peace and Democracy Building Links for the Week of June 2, 2024 -- Interesting readings from readers, colleagues, and journalists we are following. -- Jun 02
- Calling People Forward Instead of Out: Ten Essential Steps -- Excerpted from a book, "How We Ended Racism," this article explains that calling out leads to a cancel culture which is ineffective and further divides, while calling in is much more effective at addressing racism. -- Jun 02
- A New Centrism Is Rising in Washington -- A persuasive argument that the conventional wisdom is wrong. Rather than being divided and dysfunctional, the US government has quietly and successfully been able to address a wide range of issues. -- Jun 01
- Guy and Heidi Burgess's Thoughts on Memorial Day and Louis Kriesberg on Seeing a Way Out of The Gaza War -- A reflection of the meaning of Memorial Day to veterans and their loved ones, and to peacebuilders, and some thoughts on how the Gaza war might be ended. -- May 26
- How to Create a Society That Prizes Decency -- From David Brooks, an essay exploring practical things that we can do to cultivate basic decency -- a precondition for a democracy that works. -- May 24
