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
- 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
- Colleague and Context Posts for the Week of January 7, 2024 -- Readings on Israel/Hamas war recommended by readers, more colleague activities articles and news, and writing from people in allied fields. -- Jan 06
- What Biden Needs to Tell Us -- From David Brooks, a must-read essay about how both the left and the right have abandoned win-win politics – the idea that our problems can be solved in mutually beneficial ways. -- Jan 06
- Growing Strawberries on Coconut Trees: The Nature of Peace and Peacebuilding in a Collectivist and Illiberal World -- To understand why the peacebuilding field has failed to live up to its lofty ambitions, we have to unpack the world we inhabit today. Peacebuilding is not possible in many societies, and peacebuilders need to understand where their processes can work and where they cannot. -- Jan 05
- U.S. Election BI in Context Posts for January 3, 2023 -- A compendium of ideas from conflict strategists about the nature of the US hyper-polarization problem and ways to address that. -- Jan 02
- A New Year's Gift from Jay Rothman: 31 Definitions of Peace and You -- An exercise to help us all appreciate our inner and social experiences of peace, wholeness, and connection, as defined by many cultures around the world. -- Jan 01
- What Happens When We Have ANOTHER Election That Both Sides Absolutely Positively Can't Afford to Lose? -- The US 2024 presidential election is shaping up to be extremely challenging to U.S. democracy, but there are things that can be done to make sure it is both trustworthy and trusted. -- Dec 20
- Humanism and Its Discontents -- A review and summary of an important new book looking at the evolution of humanistic philosophy and the difficult struggle to build societies based on that idea. -- Dec 20
- Colleague and Context Posts for the Week of December 17, 2023 -- More thoughtful articles from colleagues, the media, and writers in allied fields. -- Dec 18
- If you care about movements, you have to care about leaders -- Leadership is the single most important indicator of the likelihood of success for any movement for good or for ill. -- Dec 16
- Why liberalism and leftism are increasingly at odds -- A really thoughtful analysis of the increasingly significant conflict that is emerging between social justice progressives and traditional liberals. -- Dec 16
