Newsletter #96 — March 19, 2023
Reader Suggested Links
Highlighting links suggested by our readers. Please send us links to things that you find useful.
- Large-Scale Violence
America’s Terrifying Cycle of Extremist Violence — A detailed look at the most dangerous and violent aspect of today's hyper-polarized politics. - Psychological Complexity
Protest Porn -- The pleasure-seeking behind today’s righteous causes — A critical and doubtless controversial look at today's many protest movements. As we fight to make the world a better place, we need to be careful not to make the mistakes that this article highlights.
Colleague Activities
Highlighting things that our conflict and peacebuilding colleagues are doing that contribute to efforts to address the hyper-polarization problem.
- Big Picture Thinking Projects
American Friends Service Committee — The American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) promotes a world free of violence, inequality, and oppression. They work with people and partners worldwide, of all faiths and backgrounds, to meet urgent community needs, challenge injustice, and build peace. - Escalation & Violence Limiting Projects
Black Women for Positive Change — A national policy-focused network of predominately African American women and “Good Brothers” working to strengthen the American middle and working classes (particularly among Blacks) and changing the culture of violence in America. - Big Picture Thinking Projects
The Carter Center — Founded in partnership with Emory University, the Carter Center has a fundamental commitment to human rights and the alleviation of human suffering. The Center seeks to prevent and resolve conflicts, enhance freedom and democracy, and improve health worldwide. - Effective Communication Strategies
Election SOS — An organization supporting journalists in responding to critical election information needs. - Effective Communication Strategies
National Coalition or Dialogue and Deliberation (NCDD) — A network of innovators who bring people together across divides to discuss, decide, and take action together effectively on today’s toughest issues. NCDD serves as a gathering place, a resource center, a news source, and a facilitative leader for this vital community of practice. - Escalation & Violence Limiting Projects
Nonviolent Peaceforce — Their mission is to protect civilians in violent conflicts through unarmed strategies, build peace side-by-side with local communities, and advocate for the wider adoption of these approaches to safeguard human lives and dignity.
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.
- The Nature of Complexity
Change Makes Fools of Us All — In the complex and chaotic social environment in which we live, we have to recognize that irreducible uncertainties will, at times, make our most careful plans look foolish. Still, we need to do the best we can. - Race / Anti-Racism
Why Racial Discussions Should Also Focus on Progress — A call for balancing efforts to address continuing racial problems with a companion effort to recognize and sustain the progress that has been made. - Developing a Unifying Vision
The Illusion of a Frictionless Existence — As we strive for an environment that protects us from threats ranging from the "micro" to the truly major, it's worth thinking seriously about when such an effort becomes counterproductive. - Theories of Change
Do Non-profits Drive Social Change? — A thought-provoking article for the many of us who have spent our careers in nonprofit organizations working to address society's big problems. - Social Complexity
The Levin-Rothman Plan for Altering the Justice System: A Comprehensive Analysis and Proposal for Consideration — For those watching (or participating in) Israel's us-vs-them confrontation over "judicial reform," a link to an authoritative, balanced and detailed analysis of the issues as well as some suggested compromises. - Race / Anti-Racism
Intellectual Brown Web (IBW): An Introduction — The genuinely interesting effort to add diversity and nuance to often bipolar discussions about race. - Big Picture Thinking Projects
Propaganda (Almost) Never Works — Reassuring new data indicating that the impact of today's high-tech propaganda is much less than we might otherwise have feared. - Improving Problem Assessment
How to be a smart consumer of climate attribution claims — An example of the kind of guide to understanding "expert" opinion that we need to make sensible use of expert analyses of all complex social problems . - Superpower Conflict
Is Ron DeSantis Flaming Out Already? — As we try to find a viable strategy for combating Russia's naked invasion of Ukraine, a look at how domestic US politics could, instead, wind up strengthening this kind of brutality. - Communication Obstacles
You Can’t Define Woke — An exploration of how the complexities of language can make it vastly more difficult to work through the big issues that divide us. - Interstate War
Sometimes, Consensus Can Be Ruinous — As we, with the benefit of hindsight, reflect on the 20th anniversary of the war in Iraq, a cautionary argument about how consensus can lead us astray. - Political Dysfunction
How to Stop 2024 From Looking Like 2016 — An explanation of an important, but often neglected, strategy for preventing extreme candidates (like President Trump) from winning their party's nomination.
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