While this aspect of the discussion is just getting started, it is going to be one of the most important.  A big part of what makes our conflicts so intractable is the gigantic scale of those conflicts. Such conflicts involve millions of people, countless issues, widely differing perceptions, and very different values and priorities.  Ideas developed for use around a "negotiating table" need major changes before they can be expected to reach and involve mass audiences. And, contributions from other fields with conflict-related expertise need to be integrated into an effort that will reach far beyond the conflict resolution field. Most importantly, we need to figure out how to organize a massive and multifaceted effort that will have to be so big that it will be impossible to centrally manage.. This topic will bring together ideas for how to do this.

•  Massively Parallel Peacebuilding Roles - Part 4 - The last in a four-part series of MPP roles looking at those who help balance power so that everyone in society is treated fairly, and those who try to defend democracy from those who would destroy it. - May 23, 2024 
•  Massively Parallel Peacebuilding Roles - Part  3 - Part 3 of a 4 part series examining the many roles played by participants in Massively Parallel Peace and Democracy Building. This newsletter focuses on those who help us analyze complex problems and develop collaborative solutions. - May 17, 2024
• Massively Parallel Peace and Democracy Building Roles - Part 2  - The second of three posts explaining the actor roles needed for a massively parallel peacebuilding/democracy building effort to work, which combined with an earlier post on strategy roles, makes up the current MPP role list.- April 9, 2024 
• Massively Parallel Peace and Democracy Building Roles - Part 1 - People engaged in massively parallel peace and democracy building play at least 50 different roles. In Part 1 of this three part series, we explore the roles played by the "strategizers," or "big thinkers" who help us understand the both nature of the problem and possible responses. - March 27, 2024 
• Lorelei Kelly on Strengthening Democracy at the Top and the Bottom - Lorelei Kelly describes the work of the bipartisan Select Committee on the Modernization of Congress which passed 202 recommendations, many unanimously. Over half have been implemented and most others are in progress.- March 31, 2024 
• Heidi Burgess Talks With James Coan about Taking De-Polarization Work "to Scale." - Dialogue is great for the few participants, but it simply cannot be scaled up enough to change societal attitudes and behaviors.  James Coan and Heidi Burgess discuss alternative ways to scale depolarization work. -March 19, 2024
• Katie Hyten Explains how Essential Partners is Taking Dialogue to Scale -- Essential Partners has figured out both how to scale dialogue at least to the community level, if not beyond, and to make the relationship improvements dialogue engenders sustainable over the long term. -- Oct 17, 2023
• Contradictory Thoughts About Dialogue -- Dialogue can change attitudes, but those changes tend to be fleeting unless a great deal of thought and care goes into both the process and the aftermath. Designing for scale up is key. -- Jul 12, 2023
• Jay Rothman on Large Scale Interventions -  In this interview, Jay Rothman continues to reflect on strategies for scaling up small group processes in ways that enable whole communities to develop "both-and" solutions the common problems.  Sept. 7, 2023 
• Anne Leslie: Know Thyself- August 9, 2023 - A reflection on the role and choices we all make that will influence not only ourselves, but our society and planet as well.
• Learning More about How the TRUST Network Does Massively Parallel Peacebuilding - Democracy is a complex adaptive system. This means we need a complex, adaptive response to the many threats that it faces. The TRUST Network is one. May 30, 2023
• Rachel Kleinfeld's "Five Strategies to Support U.S. Democracy" -- US democracy is failing. Each moment deepens the polarization that makes its problems harder to fix. As Americans, we must start now, at scale, strategically, with a broad, cross-party coalition to save our democracy. March 21
• Sharp vs. Fuzzy Feedback — The Distinction That Explains Why Society Can Be Both Astonishingly Smart and Incredibly Stupid -- We are good at understanding and responding to sharp feedback, but not nearly as good seeing and responding to fuzzy feedback, which is the source of many serious mistakes.  March 8
• Julia Roig Talks about Weaving a Healthy Democracy in the United States -- Julia Roig talks about her efforts to build a social movement to support democracy in the U.S. Such a movement needs to both block and build: block bad actors, and build a new pluralistic society that works -- Feb. 23
• Massively Circular Hyper-Polarization -- All complex systems are made up of multiple interlocking negative and positive feedback loops that can lead to good or bad stability or good or bad change. Understanding these loops is essential for good outcomes. -- Feb 21, 2023
• Conflict Core and Overlaying Issues -- Intractable conflicts are never simple us-versus-them. By sorting out the core and overlaying factors, disputants can come to a much clearer understanding of what needs to be done to transform their conflicts. -- Feb 14, 2023
• Guy Burgess and Heidi Burgess: The Google Maps and Adopt-a-Highway Approach to Systems (Newsletter 72) -- If we were to map all the challenges Google-maps style, and then each person or organization were to adopt one or two of the challenges that were not widely adopted by others, that could have a much bigger impact. Jan. 20, 2023
• Anne Leslie: Embracing Ambiguity -- Curiosity will get you SO FAR. …Never underestimate the power of being curious and likeable!  It will get you so far in life! And it’s massively, massively underestimated.
• Jean-Jacques Subrenat: Implementing Democracy  -- Attacks on the rule of law in the U.S.A. are having an impact on the political mores of other democracies. The U.S. badly needs to update its own democracy to preserve the safety and prosperity of all around the world. November 29, 2022
• Duncan Autrey: We All Win, or We All Lose -- We all agree society is in grave trouble.  We all have different notions of how to fix it. If we pool our knowledge and work together, we can create a better world for everyone. Oct. 23, 2022
• Duncan Autrey: It's Time to Upgrade Our Democracy -- Our current democratic system is inherently flawed because it relies on elected officials to represent people without an effective means of listening to them. But we already have proven methods for fixing that.  We just need to implement them! Oct. 20, 2022
• Jack Williams: Reaching out Within and Beyond the Classroom -- The President of the Institute for Global Negotiation shares his thoughts on how the education system writ large can help entire societies learn and use better conflict resolution techniques. — Sept. 20, 2022
• Chip Hauss: Beyond Polarization -- We’ll counter toxic polarization if and only if we offer people a better and credible alternative that they can put into practice in the lived experience of their daily lives.  -- Jun 28, 2022
• Larry Susskind and Shafik Islam on Complexity -- The combination of complexity theory with negotiation theory yields a powerful tool for effective water resources management--and other complex public problems. -- Jun 28
• The Key to Revitalizing Liberal Democracy: Think of It As a Conflict Handling System -- This second, hyper-polarization framing paper more fully develops the massively parallel approach outlined in the CRQ article in ways that further emphasize the importance and utility of thinking of democracy is a dispute handling system.  June 8, 2022