Newsletter #244 — June 13, 2024
Reader Suggested Links
Highlighting links suggested by our readers. Please send us links to things that you find useful.
- Israel / Hamas War
Gaza Chief’s Brutal Calculation: Civilian Bloodshed Will Help Hamas — The real reason behind mounting civilian casualties in Gaza -- a strategic choice by the Hamas leadership (a choice that is proving extremely effective). - Saving Democracy
Ayaan Hirsi Ali: We Have Been Subverted — A look at how Russia's four-step subversion and destabilization strategy applies to the ongoing Israeli/Hamas crisis (and deteriorating support for Western values and democracy). - Israel / Hamas War
Matti Friedman: Northern Israel Is on Fire — An update on the simmering war between Israel and Hezbollah -- a war that could quickly exploded in ways that would be even more destructive than the ongoing war in Gaza. - Theories of Change
Courage, the most important virtue — An inspiring TED talk explaining the critical role courageous individual action plays in resisting tyranny and authoritarianism. - Israel / Hamas War
New Rule: Gender Apartheid | Real Time with Bill Maher — A Bill Maher video that exposes the contradiction between the social justice movement's support for women's and LBGTQ rights and its support for Hamas. - Israel / Hamas War
They turned into monsters — From German Nobel Prize winner Herta Muller, reflections on October 7, the Israel/Hamas war, and the global rise of anti-Semitism. - Developing a Unifying Vision
Undergraduate Commencement Address by Ken Burns — A number of our readers recommended this commencement address as a great place to start putting our problems in perspective and thinking constructively about the future. - US Election
On Black Swans, Gray Rhinos, and the 2024 Election — For those trying to protect the integrity of the upcoming election, a useful guide to the many different contingencies that we need to prepare for.
Colleague Activities
Highlighting things that our conflict and peacebuilding colleagues are doing that contribute to efforts to address the hyper-polarization problem.
- Saving Democracy
Democracy Lighthouse — From the Toda Peace Institute, a new web portal designed to make it easier to find information about the world's "massively parallel" array of efforts to strengthen democracy. - Authoritarianism
The Rise of Digital Authoritarianism — From Freedom House, a report on the intersection between old-fashioned authoritarianism and the new, 21st-century digital information systems. - Developing a Unifying Vision
Daniel Lubetzky TED Talk: Replacing “Us vs. Them” with a Movement of Builders — Founding Partner Daniel Lubetzky publicly launches Builders, a new platform that takes the Starts With Us mission (equipping citizens to overcome toxic polarization and solve our toughest problems) global. - Escalation Spiral
Mood of the Nation: Angry — Nine in ten Americans can name either a recent news event or something about American politics that made them angry, while only half could identify a recent news event or something about American politics that made them proud. - Communication Complexity
Do Americans Prefer a World Without TikTok? — A new report exploring Americans’ attitudes and beliefs around the benefits of social media and support for various government regulations as well as how they compare to views in the UK, France, and Germany. - Theories of Change
Little changes, Big Impacts by Jake Klaus — The beginning of a series on data analytics and how it can be used to identify small "tweaks" to a group, organization, community, or system that can create significant change. - Artificial Intelligence
Advancing a More Global Agenda for Trustworthy Artificial Intelligence — International AI governance enshrines assumptions from the more well-resourced Global North. These efforts must adapt to better account for the range of harms AI incurs globally. - Saving Democracy
Change the System — Many Americans agree, our political system is broken. Join forces with those working towards a more perfect American democratic system. - Corruption
USAID Anti-corruption Policy — In line with the U.S. Strategy on Countering Corruption, USAID's Anti-corruption Policy signals its commitment to countering corruption and outlines its plan for institutionalizing anti-corruption efforts across all its work, - Constructive Communication
Fighting to Understand — Fighting to Understand brings "ordinary people" together to learn and talk about contentious issues. - Saving Democracy
Utah opponents made a campaign ad together. Here’s what it achieved — During the 2020 campaign season, Utah’s Democratic and Republican candidates for governor took the unusual step of recording an ad together. Two years later, researchers found it had an effect on those who saw it. - Peacebuilding
Peace and Security Funders Group — The Peace and Security Funders Group connects and supports the global community of funders advancing peace and security efforts in order to build a more peaceful, just, and equitable world. - Negotiation / Collaboration
The Mediation Group: Conflict Coaching — Conflict coaching is a one-on-one process that develops the client’s skill at handling conflict, or supports the client in working through a particularly difficult or complex conflict. - Negotiation / Collaboration
Association for Conflict Resolution — ACR is an international professional association for mediators, arbitrators, educators and other conflict resolution practitioners.
Beyond Intractability in Context
From around the web, more insight into the nature of our conflict problems, limits of business-as-usual thinking, and things people are doing to try to make things better.
- Class Inequity
The Sins of the Educated Class — A must read article that explains how the actions of today's highly educated, "knowledge" workers continue to inflame the populist right in ways that genuinely threaten the viability of modern society. - Authoritarianism
Is this Russia’s 4-Step long-game to destabilize the U.S.A.? — An extremely important article that explains a long-standing Russian strategy for destabilizing its adversaries and many ways in which the West is now falling victim to that strategy. - Psychological Complexity
What Does It Mean for Something to Be Socially Constructed? — There are obviously big differences between objective reality and the way in which societies interpret that reality. This article compares the various ways in which we try to understand these differences. - Developing a Unifying Vision
Things Worth Remembering: Why Forgiveness Matters — A retrospective look at what Hannah Arendt has to teach us about forgiveness and its role in helping us move beyond the terrible, unrightable wrongs of the past. - Israel / Hamas War
Al Qaeda and Iran Salute the U.S. Campus — A report on eye-opening statements from Al Qaeda and the Iranians welcoming the support that they are receiving from the campus protests. - Social Complexity
Boredom at the End of History, Part I — From Francis Fukuyama, his thoughts about how well his "end of history" thesis has survived the test of time. - Trust / Trust Earning
An Object Lesson From Covid on How to Destroy Public Trust — Reflections on new information about the government's COVID response lost the public's trust and what this implies about how we might better handle future crises. - Saving Democracy
Hollow Rebels — A report on Robert Kagan's new book on the long-running conflict between liberalism and it's many detractors. - Superpower Conflict
Why Russia Is Happy at War — In the wake of huge losses still being suffered in Russia's ongoing war in Ukraine, a somewhat surprising look at Russia's patriotic unity (and the danger it presents to the rest of the world). - Israel / Hamas War
The Academic Proletariat Goes on Strike at the University of California — A report on a new front in the campus Gaza protests -- a "wildcat" solidarity strike by University of California teaching assistants (who are, surprisingly, represented by the United Auto Workers). - Saving Democracy
MAGA Turns Against the Constitution — From a conservative perspective, disturbing news that Trump supporters continue to lose faith in the Constitution and are actively looking for ways to get around its constraints. - Hate Mongering
We Are Starting to Enjoy Hatred — An article suggesting that there is an enjoyable component to hatred -- a perverse dynamic that reinforces the extremely destructive ways of thinking. - The Hyper-Polarization Threat
- The new polarization that explains our politics — An article explaining a different kind polarization -- one that divides politically active citizens from those who are too busy or too disillusioned to get involved.
- Superpower Conflict
U.S., Chinese Defense Chiefs Confirm Plan to Reopen Hotlines in First Face-to-Face Meeting - The Wall Street Journal. — A glimmer of good news and increasingly dangerous world -- the US and China are taking steps to reduce the risk of accidental war by reopening the hot line between their respective military commands. - Corruption
The Rise of Poverty Inc. — In coining the phrase, military-industrial complex, Dwight Eisenhower gave us the name for the way in which conflicts of interest distort public policy. This article looks at the poverty industrial complex. - Psychological Complexity
Our Strange Politics of Meaning Assignment — A thought-provoking essay that explores the fuzzy relationship between what people actually do and what other people think those actions mean. - Theories of Change
Betting on the Tortoise: Policy Incrementalism and How Philanthropy’s Support Can Turn Small Sustained Steps into Big Impact — As a counterpoint to today's many calls for rapid, revolutionary change as the solution to our many problems, a reminder of the virtues of the strategy based on slow, steady, incremental improvement. - Left / Right Conflict
How Elites Have Empowered The Far Right — From a conservative perspective, an eye-opening look at how the left's open immigration policies are, in country after country, empowering the far right. - Israel / Hamas War
Why Israel should NOT have a “day after plan” for Gaza — An argument that "day after" planning for the Israel/Hamas war is impossible as long as Hamas continues to be able to threaten reasonable people who might want to take part in such a plan. - Israel / Hamas War
A Pragmatic Post-War Gaza Plan is Needed Now — An argument that some sort of "day after" plan is critically needed to prevent Gaza from falling into anarchy and chaos following the war's end.
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About the MBI Newsletters
Two or three times a week, Guy and Heidi Burgess, the BI Directors, share some of our thoughts on political hyper-polarization and related topics. We also share essays from our colleagues and other contributors, and every week or so, we devote one newsletter to annotated links to outside readings that we found particularly useful relating to U.S. hyper-polarization, threats to peace (and actual violence) in other countries, and related topics of interest. Each Newsletter is posted on BI, and sent out by email through Substack to subscribers. You can sign up to receive your copy here and find the latest newsletter here or on our BI Newsletter page, which also provides access to all the past newsletters, going back to 2017.
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