Newsletter #93 — March 12, 2023
Reader Suggested Links
Highlighting links suggested by our readers. Please send us links to things that you find useful.
- Massively Parallel Peacebuilding
Peacebuilding, Conflict and Community Development — How do local communities effectively build peace and reconciliation before, during and after open violence? A book with practical examples, from the Global North, the former Soviet bloc, and Global South. - Crime / Policing / Guns
7 quick facts about accesSOS — a text to 911 app that triages emergency responses and gets people the help they actually need — An example of a practical project designed to overcome some of the problems associated with emergency response systems. - Social Complexity
How U.S. Ambassador Tom Nides Became Israel’s Arsonist-in-Chief — Another look at the complex political crisis engulfing Israel and a call for caution on the part of those in the US who want to get involved. We could easily make things worse rather than better. - Left / Right Conflict
The Democrats’ Patriotism Problem — The next installment in a three-part look at things that Democrats might do to broaden their appeal enough to start diffusing our hyper-polarized politics. This one focuses on the trouble that progressives often have acknowledging that there are good things about America.
Colleague Activities
Highlighting things that our conflict and peacebuilding colleagues are doing that contribute to efforts to address the hyper-polarization problem.
- Efforts to Limit Concentrated Power
The Trifecta of Civil Resistance: Unity, Planning, Discipline — An essay that starts with the assumption that "power is never given, it is always taken." It then goes on to observe that the historic success of nonviolent movements proves that they can be more powerful than the autocratic regimes they oppose. - Improving Problem Assessment
Health and Democracy Index — When communities vote, they influence policy decisions that have a big effect on their health. This analysis compares 12 public health indicators and voter turnout to the restrictiveness of voting policies in each state. - Effective Communication Strategies
Livingroom Conversations' Ranked-Choice Voting Conversation Guide — Information about how ranked choice voting works and a guide for having a constructive conversation about it. - Big Picture Thinking Projects
Institute for Economics and Peace — The Institute for Economics and Peace aims to create a paradigm shift in the way the world thinks about peace. They do this by developing global and national indices, calculating the economic cost of violence, analyzing country level risk and fragility, and understanding positive peace. - Big Picture Thinking Projects
Institute for Global Leadership — IGL provides training and consultation for leaders and teams to adapt to the changed dynamics of a post-9/11 world. They train reconciliation leaders with personal, interpersonal, systemic, and global competencies in business, community, institutional, national, and world environments.
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.
- Psychological Complexity
Actually, You Don’t Know That Much — An exploration of what happens when we are so convinced that we are right that we think that anyone who disagrees with us is stupid and probably evil. - Inflammatory Media
Thousands of pro-Trump bots are attacking DeSantis, Haley — Reason to believe that many of the people who are doing the most to inflame our conflicts are not really people at all. Rather, they are malicious bots directed by bad-faith actors. - Social Complexity
Drowning in a sea of resentment and hate, it's far from clear that Israel can make it back to shore. — A perceptive look at the conflicts that are tearing apart Israel (which look a lot like those tearing apart the US). The future of democracy depends upon finding better ways of dealing with these tensions. - Interstate War
How Estonia Is Planning for the Worst — For small countries seeking ways to defend themselves from larger and more powerful rivals, lessons from Estonia's efforts to strengthen its defenses. - Race / Anti-Racism
A View of American History That Leads to One Conclusion — A thought-provoking essay for those struggling to find a constructive way of thinking about humanity's brutal history while also recognizing its beauty and accomplishments. - Improving Problem Assessment
Improve how science advice is provided to governments by learning from “experts in expert advice” — For a complex world in which we are utterly dependent upon expert advice to keep the system running, welcome news that there are experts specializing in how to obtain advice that is genuinely trustworthy. - Superpower Conflict
How Democracy Can Win — From Samantha Powers, thoughtful reflections on what democratic societies can do to defend themselves against increasingly aggressive authoritarian regimes. - Class Inequity
Why So Many Elites Feel Like Losers — Insight into the reasons why so many of our most talented, hard-working, and successful young people are struggling and losing faith in the system. - Class Inequity
Low-wage workers are finally catching a break — A good news story about how those at lower levels of the social hierarchy are, in today's tight job market, doing surprisingly well with wage gains that would have been considered impossible just a few years ago. - Inflammatory Media
Rupert Murdoch Rides the Trump Tiger — and Gets Eaten — More reflections on the Dominion lawsuit revelations and evidence that inflammatory media coverage is transforming the political environment in ways that we have yet to figure out how to reverse. - Large-Scale Violence
Take Threats of ‘National Divorce’ Seriously — For those thinking in terms of victory over, rather than accommodation with, the other side of the political divide, a warning about where this is taking us. - Superpower Conflict
The U.S. Is Not Yet Ready for the Era of ‘Great Power’ Conflict — Another reminder that the global security situation is changing rapidly. If we don't find a way to adapt to these changes, we risk a breakdown of the system that has been protecting us from major power conflict. - Superpower Conflict
America Is Too Scared of the Multipolar World — As geopolitical tensions rise, we may be tempted to take refuge in the simplistic bipolar, thinking of the Cold War. However, what we really need to do is learn how navigate an emerging multipolar world. - Authoritarianism
Putin Has Assembled an Axis of Autocrats Against Ukraine — A reminder that, even in a multi-polar world, coalition building dynamics can lead to dangerous polarization and, conceivably, a major confrontation between the authoritarianism and democracy.
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