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
- Through a distorted lens: How perceptions of the “other side” drive toxic division -- Toxic polarization is a large, complex problem with many factors. But one thing we can all do to reduce it is examine our role in the equation. Making our culture less toxic starts with us. -- Feb 04
- How ‘Our Democracy’ Became Undemocratic -- An essay exploring the many ways in which the word "democracy" has been weaponized by a wide array of narrowly focused interest groups -- groups that have little concern for the welfare of the larger society. -- Feb 03
- Chicken Littles Are Ruining America -- An in-depth look at the far-reaching implications of a culture that is so focused on apocalyptic threats that it fails to see the many positive aspects of society worth celebrating and defending. -- Feb 03
- The Meaning of Gaza’s Tunnels -- An exploration of the causes and far-reaching ramifications of Hamas's unique brand of tunnel warfare. -- Feb 02
- More Comments on Growing Strawberries on Coconut Trees -- More reader comments and Ashok Panikkar's comments on those comments about the role of peacebuilding, force, and other approaches to the world's current most violent conflicts. -- Feb 01
- Essay IX: Mapping the Healthy Democracy Ecosystem: Future of Citizenship -- A series of essays exploring how democracy and citizenship are both evolving and threatened, and how people are thinking about and engaging in politics and community. -- Jan 31
- America’s social ills are not simply due to inequality and despair -- An interesting article questioning some of our most basic assumptions about the challenges facing society and possible remedies -- the kind of outside the box thinking we ought to consider occasionally. -- Jan 31
- Ken Cloke: Free Speech on Campus: What Colleges and Universities Can Do - And Lorelie Kelly on How Universities Can Strengthen our Democrati -- There are no judicial or military solutions to the wars being fought around the world, or on our campuses. Our only choice is to learn to live together by settling, transforming, or transcending our conflicts. -- Jan 30
- Colleague and Context Posts for the Week of January 28, 2023 -- Links from readers and Guy exploring the themes of hyper-polarization, Israel, and related topics from within and beyond the peacebuilding field. -- Jan 28
- What's Wrong with Liberalism: TheoryWhat's Wrong with Liberalism: Theory -- From Francis Fukuyama, an update on his latest thinking regarding liberalism and its discontents on the left and the right. -- Jan 27
- An End-of-Year Letter from AFP's Executive Director, Liz Hume -- This letter contains an impressive list of all of AfP's activities over the last year with many links for more details about each of them. -- Jan 24
- More Reader Comments On Israel and Intractable Identity Conflicts more Broadly -- A compilation of readers' thoughts on Israel and identity conflicts in general. We agree--they are intractable--but greatly in need of inspiration and new thinking! -- Jan 24
- Why Hope Dies Last...and Why I Stopped Being an Optimist -- When you recognize uncertainty, you recognize that you may be able to influence the outcomes – you alone or you in concert with a few dozen or several million others. -- Jan 23
- Economies of Scale, Part III: Power, Inequality, and Dependence -- For a time in which big institutions are widely distrusted, a reminder of how much we depend upon the economies of scale that those institutions make possible. -- Jan 22
- How to Thrive in an Uncertain World -- For those who have noted our tendency to highlight the complex and uncertain nature of so many ongoing conflicts, a welcome guide for those looking for a way to navigate our uncertain world. -- Jan 21
- The Them-vs.-Us Election -- This article offers a new, perceptive, and important way of looking at the fault lines that divide our hyper-polarized society. -- Jan 20
- A ‘National and Global Maelstrom’ Is Pulling Us Under -- From Thomas Edsall, a quick look (with lots of links) into what some of our most prominent social theorists think about society's deepening difficulties. -- Jan 17
- Colleague and Context Posts for the Week of January 14, 2023 -- Reader contributed and Guy's suggestions of interesting reads for the week relating to peacebuilding and hyper-polarization. -- Jan 14
- Martin Luther King from a Conflict Resolution and Peacebuilding Perspective -- A look at the now hard-to-imagine challenges faced by the Civil Rights Movement, Dr. King, and the 1963 March on Washington; how they were able to overcome them; and what they can teach us today. -- Jan 14
- Roles that Make Democracy Function -- From the Better Conflict Bulletin, reflections on Beyond Intractability's Massively Parallel Peacebuilding roles. Thanks to BCB for highlighting these so well! -- Jan 13
- We've Been Thinking About America's Trust Collapse All Wrong -- We live in a time in which we are experiencing the widespread collapse of societal trust. Before we can remedy the situation, we need a more sophisticated image of the processes through which trust is earned. -- Jan 13
- Democrats! Time to Re-Embrace Merit, Free Speech, and Universalism -- A plea for Democrats to strengthen their electoral appeal by rediscovering the wisdom of traditional liberal values -- values that are increasingly viewed with suspicion. -- Jan 12
- Designing Resistance: Democratic Institutions and the Threat of Backsliding -- This report examines democratic backsliding, detailing strategies and actions taken affecting the core institutions of democracy offers recommendations to make democracy more resilient. -- Jan 11
- Deborah Lauffer and Katja Rieger on Peacebuilding, Israel/Hamas, and Future Visioning -- Two more readers contribute thoughts about the Israel/Gaza war and ways of envisioning a future we would all want to live in. -- Jan 10
- Don’t Worry About Donald Trump. Worry About Yourself. -- An important reminder that demonizing those with whom we disagree is actually a direct and serious threat to our own welfare. -- Jan 07
