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
- Why You Should Feel Good About Liberalism: We need to get better at standing up for the greatest social technology ever devised. -- An argument that liberal democracy is one of humanity's greatest accomplishments – an accomplishment that we ought to do a much better job of defending. -- Aug 11
- A Conversation about Partnering with Community Mediation Centers -- DG Mawn, President of NAFCM and Caleb Christen, Co-Founder of Inter-Movement Impact Project have a thought-provoking conversation about incorporating community mediation centers into local democracy hubs. -- Aug 10
- Yes, You Do Have to Tolerate the Intolerant: It has become fashionable to invoke Karl Popper’s “paradox of tolerance” to justify restriction -- Tolerance and coexistence are key to making a diverse democracy work. This essay explores one of the big challenges facing promoters of tolerance -- the need to tolerate the intolerant. -- Aug 10
- Massively Parallel Partisanship Revisited -- Massively parallel social movements can strengthen democracy or tear it apart, and the dividers are currently much more visible (and successful) than the uniters. With effort, though, that can change! -- Aug 07
- Massively Parallel Peace and Democracy Building Links for the Week of August 4, 2024 -- Reader-suggested links, colleague activities, and news and opinion articles that caught our attention this week. -- Aug 04
- 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." -- Aug 03
- 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. -- Aug 01
- The Secret Power of Using ‘We’ During Difficult Conversations -- This simple change in language and, more importantly, the way we think about conflict can have huge and quite beneficial implications. -- Jul 31
- Our Solution to the Crisis of Democracy -- A report on another big picture look at the problems facing democracy and the things that ought to be a done to address those problems. -- Jul 22
- Thinking about What Democracy's Winners and Losers Owe One Another -- As we think about how to heal US democracy following the upcoming, and undoubtedly divisive election, we propose asking ourselves whether we are willing to treat the other side as we would like to be treated. -- Jul 21
- 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
- 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
- The Protest Trap -- From Amanda Ripley, three research-based lessons about how to respond constructively to fear, rage, and grief. -- Jul 19
- 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
- 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
- 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
- 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 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
- 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
- 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
