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
- 7/29 IMIP Hosted Generate Democracy! "Open House" -- The Inter-Movement Impact Project (IMIP) is an informal, Zoom-focused effort to bring together and exchange information between the many individuals and organizations who are part of the ongoing, "massively parallel" effort to defend and strengthen democracy. On July 29 at 3:00 pm Eastern/noon PDT, IMIP (in conjunction with LinkedIn group Generate Democracy!) is hosting an online Open House for those interested in learning more about the many ways in which people are working to strengthen democracy and how YOU can get involved in this effort. Click the above link for more information. Here's the calendar link for those who would like to attend. -- Jul 20
- 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. -- Jul 20
- An Expert on Political Violence Sees a Way Out of America’s Crisis -- An interview with Rachel Kleinfeld outlining her concrete suggestions for limiting political violence. -- Jul 20
- The Protest Trap -- From Amanda Ripley, three research-based lessons about how to respond constructively to fear, rage, and grief. -- Jul 19
- Daniel Stid: A Big Question I Have Is... -- Hope, vision, and place-based civic heath are key elements to our ability to navigate the turbulent times that have left so many of us in fear and despair. -- Jul 18
- Fighting is Easy. Persuading is Harder. -- An important exploration of the difference between persuasive efforts and efforts to simply defend one's point of view. -- Jul 18
- Massively Parallel Peace and Democracy Building Links for the Week of July 14, 2024 -- Our regular reader-suggested links, colleague activities, news and opinion links and a new "highlighted links" for people who want some really good reads quickly. -- Jul 17
- Elite misinformation is an underrated problem -- An insightful article exploring a different, and very important, source of inaccurate worldview images -- the shortcomings of elite, expert opinion. -- Jul 15
- A Coalition of All Democratic Forces, Part I: A Political Focus on What's Truly Important -- The first of a three-part series exploring strategies for strengthening solidarity within democratic societies, despite the inherent tensions and competitiveness of the electoral process. -- Jul 15
- Imagining the Robust Deliberative City: Elevating the Conversations We Need to Support Democracy -- How do we elevate the conversations we need to support a healthy democracy? This is best done at the local level, where people already have relationships, local knowledge of issues, and stakes in the outcome. -- Jul 14
- Mark Gerzon and Mesa Sebree -- Towards a Polycrisis Consciousness - Part 2 -- To address the polycrisis, it is necessary to "focus on part of the polycrisis but with an awareness of the whole." Among Gerzon and Sebree's several insightful suggestions: forget optimism and pessimism, focusing instead on "possibility." -- Jul 13
- The Inter-Movement Impact Project -- IMIP is connecting pro-democracy leaders, reformers, & change agents, who are working to strengthen American democracy, ethical government, civic health, social cohesion, and social justice at the national, state, and local levels. -- Jul 13
- Rachel Kleinfeld on the Attempted Assassination of Donald Trump and the Rise of Political Violence in America -- In this emergency podcast, Yascha Mounk and Rachel Kleinfeld discuss how to prevent a spiral of violence. -- Jul 13
- Mark Gerzon and Mesa Sebree -- Towards a Polycrisis Consciousness - Part 1 -- Gerzon and Sebree explain what the "polycrisis" is, and ten of the individual crises that interact to create it. In part 2, they will explain what can be done to constructively address this unprecedented challenge to human well being, even survival. -- Jul 10
- More responses to Friends and Family + Democracy Subversion from Rosa Zubizarreta -- Rosa Zubizarreta's thoughts about better ways to talk across differences without destroying relationships, and also how we can stop a repeat of World War II before it is too late. -- Jul 10
- Massively Parallel Peace and Democracy Building Links for the Week of July 7, 2024 -- Reader suggested links, colleague activities, and our renamed "News and Opinion Section" that shared insightful views of the issues of the day from outside the conflict resolution & peacebuilding fields. -- Jul 08
- The New Cynicism Isn't Like the Old Cynicism -- An argument that the cynicism that we are seeing today is much more cynical and dangerous than the cynicism of yesterday. -- Jul 06
- Why They Don’t Fight: The Surprising Endurance of the Democratic Peace -- For those trying to understand how to preserve the peace and avoid war, an article exploring what is, perhaps, the most effective strategy -- democracy. -- Jul 06
- The ‘Omnicause’ Is Collapsing -- An exploration of the contradictions that arise when you try to simplistically bifurcate the world into two groups -- oppressors and the oppressed. -- Jul 06
- 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
