Beyond Intractability Newsletters

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In this newsletter, co-published on Substack, we share our and our colleagues' latest thinking about intractable conflict-related issues of the day.

The discussion was initially designed to discuss the framing article on hyper-polarization, written by Guy and Heidi Burgess and Sanda Kaufman and published in the Conflict Resolution Quarterly 39:4, May of 2022. We have widened our scope of discussion considerably since then. More information on the discussion and background articles can be found here. We also invite outside authors to contribute their thoughts to this discussion.  See how to do that here.

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Popular Topics

While we cover many more topics than these, these are the topics that have received the most attention.

Newsletter Archive

Chronological listing starting with the most recent posts

May, 2025

  • Newsletter-352 - May 10, 2025 - Better Together America: Another Example of Massively Parallel Democracy Building at Work
  • Newsletter-351 - May 6, 2025 -  Colleague, News, and Opinion Links for the Week of May 4, 2025
  • Newsletter 350 - May 1, 2025 - Things to Think About -- Alone and Together - Part 2

April, 2025

  • Newsletter - 349 - April 29, 2025 - Things to Think About -- Alone and Together - Part 1
  • Newsletter-348 - April 27, 2025 -  Colleague, News, and Opinion Links for the Week of April 27, 2025
  • Newsletter 347 - April 24, 2025 - Daniel Stid: Competitive Authoritarianism Comes for Civil Society
  • Newsletter-346 - April 22, 2025 - Harry Boyte and the Burgesses on Thinking Politically
  • Newsletter-345 - April 20, 2025 -  Colleague, News, and Opinion Links for the Week of April 20, 2025
  • Newsletter 344 - Number accidentally skipped.
  • Newsletter-343 - April 18, 2025 - Responsibilities of Bridgers -- And The Rest of Us
  • Newsletter 342 - April 15, 2025 - Predicting a "Rule-of-Law" Crisis?
  • Newsletter 341 -  April 13, 2025 - Colleague, News, and Opinion Links for the Week of April 13, 2025
  • Newsletter 340 - April 10, 2025 - Harry Boyte On Nonviolence Training and Effective Nonviolent Action
  • Newsletter 339 - April 7, 2025 - David Eisner's P.S. -- Are Trump's Moves -- and the Results -- Controlled Burns or Out-of-Control Wildfires?
  • Newsletter 338 - April 3, 2025 - Colleague, News, and Opinion Links for the Week of March 30, 2025

March, 2025

  • Newsletter 337 - March 31, 2025 - Part 2 of the Burgess's Answer to Ashok Panikkar's Questions about Hyperpolarization and Today's World
  • Newsletter 336 - March 29, 2025 - USIP, CRS, and FMCS and Responding to Ashok Panikkar's Question about Hyper-Polarization
  • Newsletter 335 - March 26, 2025 - Heidi and Guy Burgess Talk with Tom Klaus and Lamar Roth in their "Third Space" - Part 2
  • Newsletter 334 - March 23, 2025 - Colleague, News, and Opinion Links for the Week of March 23, 2025
  • Newsletter 333 - March 22, 2025 - Responses to Fiddling While Rome Burns - Part 2
  • Newsletter 332 - March 20, 2025 - Responses to Fiddling While Rome Burns - Part 1
  • Newsletter 331 - March 16, 2025 - Colleague, News, and Opinion Links for the Week of March 16, 2025
  • Newsletter 330 - March 12, 2025 - Can we lower toxic polarization while still opposing Trump? 
  • Newsletter 329 - March 9, 2025 - Are We Fiddling While Rome Burns?
  • Newsletter 328 - March 6, 2025 - Colleague, News, and Opinion Links for the Week of March 2, 2025
  • Newsletter 327 - March 3, 2025 - James Coan and Katie Hyten on Scaling Up Dialogue and Other Forms of Interpersonal Communication to Bridge Political Divides

February, 2025

  • Newsletter 326 - February 27, 2025 - Louis Kriesberg's "For All the People" and Related Thoughts About Paths Forward for the U.S.
  • Newsletter 325 - February 24. 2025 - Colleague, News, and Opinion Links for the Week of February 23, 2025
  • Newsletter 324 - February 21, 2025 - The Engineering and Medical Approaches to Fixing Broken Systems
  • Newsletter 323 - February 17, 2025 - Rosa Zubizarreta-Ada: Transformative Power and Empathic Connection: Changing Contexts, Generating Inclusive Mindsets
  • Newsletter 322 - February 13, 2025 - Heidi and Guy Burgess Talk with Tom Klaus and Lamar Roth in their "Third Space"
  • Newsletter 321 - February 10, 2025 - Colleague, News, and Opinion Links for the Week of February 9, 2025
  • Newsletter 320 - February 6, 2025 - Daniel Stid -- PS: Three Further Reflections on "Pluralism in the Trump Era"
  • Newsletter 319 - February 4, 2025 - Reprise: Sharp vs. Fuzzy Feedback — The Distinction That Explains Why Society Can Be Both Astonishingly Smart and Incredibly Stupid
  • Newsletter 318 - February 2, 2025 -  Colleague, News, and Opinion Links for the Week of February 2, 2025  

January, 2025

  • Newsletter 317 - January 31, 2025 - Reprise: The Google Maps and Adopt-a-Highway Approach to Systems
  • Newsletter 316 - January 29, 2025 - Daniel Stid: Top Down Democratic Decline vs. Bottom Up Civic Renewal: 8 Working Hypotheses
  • Newsletter 315 - January 26, 2025 - Massively Parallel Peace and Democracy Building Links for the Week of January 26, 2025
  • Newsletter 314 - January 23, 2025 - Potpourri Newsletter #2
  • Newsletter 313 - January 20, 2025 - Harry Boyte Talks with Heidi Burgess about the U.S. Civil Rights Movement and the Lessons it Can Teach Us
  • Newsletter 312 - January 15, 2025 - Massively Parallel Peace and Democracy Building Links for the Week of January 12, 2025 - Part 2.
  • Newsletter 311 - January 12, 2025 - Massively Parallel Peace and Democracy Building Links for the Week of January 12, 2025- Part 1.
  • Newsletter 310 - January 8, 2025 - Representative Derek Kilmer on the House Select Committee on the Modernization of Congress and De-polarization
  • Newsletter 309 - January 5, 2025 - A Reasonable Peace: Can Critical Thinking Save the Field of Peacebuilding?

 

December, 2024

  • Newsletter 308 - December 21, 2024 - Massively Parallel Peace and Democracy Building Links for the Week of December 22, 2024
  • Newsletter 307 - December 18, 2024 - Lou Kriesberg: Applying the Constructive Conflict approach to the American Right-Wing Populism Phenomenon
  • Newsletter 306 - December 16, 2024 - The US in 2024: An Election That Worked and a Democracy That Doesn't
  • Newsletter 305 - December 12, 2024 - Marc Wong on How We Can Bring Out the Best in Others -- and Ourselves
  • Newsletter 304 - December 9, 2024 - Massively Parallel Peace and Democracy Building Links for the Week of December 8, 2024
  • Newsletter 303 - December 6, 2024 - Ariel Markose, the Chief Strategy Officer of Amal-Tikva, Talks About How To Do Peacebuilding in Wartime

November, 2024

  • Newsletter 302 - November 24, 2024 - Massively Parallel Peace and Democracy Building Links for the Week of November 24, 2024
  • Newsletter 301 - November 21, 2024 - Do You Want the U.S. Government to Work? Read This! And Then Do This!
  • Newsletter 300 - November 19, 2024 - Kristin Hansen: As America’s political “world series” wraps up, let’s focus on the long game + Richard Harwood Concurring Statement
  • Newsletter 299 -  November 17, 2024 - Massively Parallel Peace and Democracy Building Links for the Week of November 17, 2024
  • Newsletter 298 - November 14, 2024 - Daniel Stid: The Meaning of Democracy in Nine Words
  • Newsletter 297 - November 12, 2024 - More Reflections from "Gail," The Israeli Peacebuilder Who Also Serves in the IDF Active Reserves -- And What that Says for U.S. Peacebuilding -- within the U.S.
  • Newsletter 296 - November 10, 2024 - Massively Parallel Peace and Democracy Building Links for the Week of November 10, 2024
  • Newsletter 295 - November 7, 2024 - Emma Addams and Jennifer Thomas Talk about Mormon Women for Ethical Government
  • Newsletter 294 - November 5, 2024 - “Don’t Destroy What you Want to Inherit”: Peacebuilding Holds the Key to Building a Strong United States of America
  • Newsletter 293 - November 3, 2024 - Massively Parallel Peace and Democracy Building Links for the Week of November 3, 2024
  • Newsletter 292 - November 1, 2024 - Massively Parallel Problem Solving and Democracy Building: An Ongoing Response to the Threats to Democracy in the U.S. - Part 5

October, 2024

  • Newsletter 291 - October 29, 2024 - Massively Parallel Problem Solving and Democracy Building: An Ongoing Response to the Threats to Democracy in the U.S. - Part 4
  • Newsletter 290 - October 27, 2024 - Massively Parallel Peace and Democracy Building Links for the Week of October 27, 2024
  • Newsletter 289 - October 23, 2024 -  Comments on Our Post Comparing Responses to October 7 to Those of September 11
  • Newsletter 288 - October 20, 2024 - Massively Parallel Problem Solving and Democracy Building: An Ongoing Response to the Threats to Democracy in the U.S. - Part 3
  • Newsletter 287 - October 17, 2024  -  Massively Parallel Peace and Democracy Building Links for the Week of October 13, 2024
  • Newsletter 286 - October 14, 2024 - Could Congress Leverage AI to Help Restore Faith in US Democracy?
  • Newsletter 285 - October 11, 2024 - Massively Parallel Problem Solving and Democracy Building: An Ongoing Response to the Threats to Democracy in the U.S. - Part 2
  • Newsletter 284- October 9, 2024 -  Massively Parallel Peace and Democracy Building Links for the Week of October 6, 2024
  • Newsletter 283 - October 7, 2024 - September 11, October 7, and Our Changing Responses to Terrorism
  • Newsletter 282 - October 3, 2024 -  Massively Parallel Problem Solving and Democracy Building: An Ongoing Response to the Threats to Democracy in the U.S. - Part 1
  • Newsletter 281 - October 1, 2024 - Caleb Christen and Vinay Orekondy Talk about the Better Together America Project

September, 2024

  • Newsletter 280 - September 29, 2024 - Massively Parallel Peace and Democracy Building Links for the Week of September 29, 2024
  • Newsletter 279 - September 26, 2024 - The Threat of Political Violence in the United States
  • Newsletter 278 - September 24. 2024 - Revisiting BI's Constructive Conflict Initiative - Part 2
  • Newsletter 277 - September 22, 2024 - Massively Parallel Peace and Democracy Building Links for the Week of September 22, 2024
  • Newsletter 276- September 20, 2024 - Revisiting BI's Constructive Conflict Initiative - Part 1
  • Newsletter 275 - September 18, 2024 - Reprise: The Power Strategy Mix — Empowering the Pursuit of the Common Good
  • Newsletter 274 - September 16, 2024 - Massively Parallel Peace and Democracy Building Links for the Week of September 8, 2024
  • Newsletter 273 - September 12, 2024 - Reprise: Planning a Constructive Confrontation Strategy: Understanding the Relationship between Negotiation and Power
  • Newsletter 272 - September 10, 2024 - Massively Parallel Peace and Democracy Building Links for the Week of September 8, 2024
  • Newsletter 271 - September 8, 2024 - Reprise: Constructive Confrontation: Applying Conflict Insights from a 1st Party (Not 3rd Party) Perspective
  • Newsletter 270 - September 5, 2024 - Guy and Heidi Burgess Talk with David Eisner about Threats to Democracy and How to Address Them
  • Newsletter 269 - September 3, 2024 - Massively Parallel Peace and Democracy Building Links for the Week of September 1, 2024

August, 2024

  • Newsletter 268 - August 29, 2024 - Updating Our Impartiality Discussions - Part 2
  • Newsletter 267 - August 26, 2024 - Updating Our Impartiality Discussions - Part 1
  • Newsletter 266 - August 22, 2024 - Massively Parallel Peace and Democracy Building Links for the Week of August 18, 2024
  • Newsletter 265 - August 19, 2024 - A Potpourri Newsletter
  • Newsletter 264 - August 15, 2024 -  Susan Carpenter and Heidi Burgess Reflect on Susan's 40+ Years' Experience Doing Consensus Building
  • Newsletter 263 - August 13, 2024 - Massively Parallel Peace and Democracy Building Links for the Week of August 11, 2024
  • Newsletter 262 - August 11, 2024 - Walt Roberts and Caleb Christian Talk about the Inter-Movement Impact Project
  • Newsletter 261 - August 7, 2024 - Massively Parallel Partisanship Revisited
  • Newsletter 260 - August 4, 2024 - Massively Parallel Peace and Democracy Building Links for the Week of August 4, 2024

July, 2024

  • Newsletter 259 - July 30, 2024 - Nealin Parker Talks about Search USA's Efforts to Reduce Polarization and Tension in the United States
  • Newsletter 258 - July 26, 2024 - Martin Carcasson Talks with Heidi and Guy Burgess about Wicked Problems, Polarization, Deliberation, and Democracy
  • Newsletter 257 - July 25, 2024 - Massively Parallel Peace and Democracy Building Links for the Week of July 21, 2024
  • Newsletter 256 - July 22, 2024 - Thinking about What Democracy's Winners and Losers Owe One Another
  • Newsletter 255 - July 19, 2024 - Daniel Stid: A Big Question I Have Is...
  • Newsletter 254 - July 17, 2024 - Massively Parallel Peace and Democracy Building Links for the Week of July 14, 2024
  • Newsletter 253 - July 12, 2024 - Mark Gerzon and Mesa Sebree -- Towards a Polycrisis Consciousness - Part 2
  • Newsletter 252 - July 10, 2024 - Mark Gerzon and Mesa Sebree -- Towards a Polycrisis Consciousness - Part 1
  • Newsletter 251 - July 8, 2024 - Massively Parallel Peace and Democracy Building Links for the Week of July 7, 2024
  • Newsletter 250 - July 1, 2024 - Reflections on the 4th of July (U.S. Independence Day)

June, 2024

  • Newsletter 249  - June 27, 2024 - More responses to Friends and Family + Democracy Subversion from Rosa Zubizarreta
  • Newsletter 248 - June 25, 2024 - - Democracy Lighthouse, Practitioner Mobilization, and More on Communicating with Friends and Family
  • Newsletter 247 - June 23, 2023 - Massively Parallel Peace and Democracy Building Links for the Week of June 23, 2024
  • Newsletter 246 - June 20, 2022 - Democratic Subversion - Part 2 
  • Newsletter 245 - June 16, 2024 - Democratic Subversion - Part 1 
  • Newsletter 244 - June 13, 2024 - Massively Parallel Peace and Democracy Building Links for the Week of June 9, 2024
  • Newsletter 243 - June 10, 2024 - Talking to Friends and Family about the Election
  • Newsletter 242 - June 6, 2024 - Peter Coleman: The Great Reset
  • Newsletter 241 - June 2, 2024 - Massively Parallel Peace and Democracy Building Links for the Week of June 2, 2024

May, 2024

  • Newsletter 240 - May 27, 2024 - Guy and Heidi Burgess's Thoughts on Memorial Day and Louis Kriesberg on Seeing a Way Out of The Gaza War
  • Newsletter 239 - May 23, 2024 - Massively Parallel Peacebuilding Roles - Part 4
  • Newsletter 238 - Number accidentally skipped
  • Newsletter 237 - May 20, 2024 - Massively Parallel Peace and Democracy Building Links for the Week of May 19, 2024
  • Newsletter 236 - May 17, 2024 - Massively Parallel Peace and Democracy Building Roles - Part 3
  • Newsletter 235 - May 13, 2024 Crisis, Contradiction, Certainty, and Contempt
  • Newsletter 234 - May 9, 2024 - Massively Parallel Peace and Democracy Building Links for the Week of April 28, 2024
  • Newsletter 233 - May 6, 2023 - Attack the Problem, Not the People

April, 2024

  • Newsletter 232 - April 26, 2024 - Massively Parallel Peace and Democracy Building Links for the Week of April 21, 2024
  • Newsletter 231 - April 21, 2024 -  Don't Take the "Hate Bait!"
  • Newsletter 230 - April 19. 2024 - Massively Parallel Peace and Democracy Building Links for the Week of April 14, 2024
  • Newsletter 229 -  April 16, 2024 - Become Part of the Solution
  • Newsletter 228 - April 14, 2024 - Knife Edge Elections, the 51% Hammer Strategy, Hatemongering, and Scapegoating
  • Newsletter 227 - April 10, 2024 -Massively Parallel Peace and Democracy Building Links for the Week of April 7, 2024 
  • Newsletter 226 - April 7, 2024 - Massively Parallel Peace and Democracy Building Roles - Part 2

March 2024

  • Newsletter 225 - March 31, 2024 - Lorelei Kelly on Strengthening Democracy at the Top and the Bottom
  • Newsletter 224 - March 29, 2024 - Massively Parallel Peace and Democracy Building Links for the Week of March 24, 2024
  • Newsletter 223 - March 27, 2024 - Massively Parallel Peace and Democracy Building Roles - Part 1
  • Newsletter 222 - March 24, 2024 - Anne Leslie: Slurps, Sulks, and Family History: Do You Care Enough to Argue?
  • Newsletter 221 - March 19, 2024 - Heidi Burgess Talks With James Coan about Taking De-Polarization Work "to Scale." 
  • Newsletter 220 - March 17, 2024 - Colleague and Context Posts for the Week of March 17, 2024
  • Newsletter 219 - March 14, 2024 - Gaza, Ukraine, Increasing Global Tensions, and the Nature of War
  • Newsletter 218 - March 10, 2024 - Colleague and Context Posts for the Week of March 10, 2024
  • Newsletter 217 - March 8, 2024 - Bari Weiss: What it Means to Choose Freedom, Supplemented by Franklin Foer and the Burgesses
  • Newsletter 216 - March 5, 2024 - Bill Froehlich Talks about the Ohio State Divided Community Project
  • Newsletter 215 - March 3, 2024 -Colleague and Context Posts for the Week of March 3, 2024

February 2024

  • Newsletter 214 - February 29, 2024  - Reconciliation "Pieces" - Parts 2, 3 and 4: Truth, Mercy, and Peace
  • Newsletter 213 - February 27, 2024 - Talking Peacebuilding and Democracy with Ashok Panikkar and Guy and Heidi Burgess
  • Newsletter 212 - February 25, 2024 -Colleague and Context Posts for the Week of February 25, 2024
  • Newsletter 211 - February 22, 2024 - Lou Kriesberg, Deborah Laufer, and Ashok Panikkar: Hopeful Thoughts About What Could Be, Contrasted with Darker Thoughts About What Is
  • Newsletter 210 - February 18, 2024 - Peter Coleman on The Way Out of Polarization and Intractability
  • Newsletter 209 - February 15, 2024 - Talking Race and Democracy with Grande Lum
  • Newsletter 208 - February 12, 2024 Reader Responses on the Israel/Hamas War and Reconciliation and Justice
  • Newsletter 207 - February 10, 2024 -Colleague and Context Posts for the Week of February 11, 2024
  • Newsletter 206 - February 7, 2024 - Elements of Reconciliation — Part 1: Justice
  • Newsletter 205 - February 4, 2024 - Colleague and Context Posts for the Week of February 4, 2024
  • Newsletter 204 - February 1, 2024 More Comments on Growing Strawberries on Coconut Trees

January, 2024

  • Newsletter 203 - January 30, 2024 - Ken Cloke: Free Speech on Campus: What Colleges and Universities Can Do - And Lorelie Kelly on How Universities Can Strengthen our Democratic System
  • Newsletter 202 - January 28, 2024 - Colleague and Context Posts for the Week of January 28, 2023
  • Newsletter 201 - January 25, 2024 - More Reader Comments On Israel and Intractable Identity Conflicts more Broadly
  • Newsletter 200 - January 23, 2024 - Anne Leslie: Why Hope Dies Last...and Why I Stopped Being an Optimist
  • Newsletter 199 - January 21, 2024 - Colleague and Context Posts for the Week of January 21, 2023
  • Newsletter 198 - January 19, 2024 - The Israeli / Hamas War: Understanding the Larger "Larger Context" - Part 2
  • Newsletter 197 - January 17, 2024 - The Israeli / Hamas War: Understanding the Larger "Larger Context" - Part 1
  • Newsletter 196 - January 15, 2024 - Martin Luther King from a Conflict Resolution and Peacebuilding Perspective
  • Newsletter 195 - January 14, 2024 - Colleague and Context Posts for the Week of January 14, 2023
  • Newsletter 194 - January 12, 2024 - Does the Concept of Ripeness Apply to the Israel/Hamas War?
  • Newsletter 193 - January 10, 2024 - Deborah Laufer and Katja Rieger on Peacebuilding, Israel/Hamas, and Future Visioning
  • Newsletter 192 - January 7, 2024 - Colleague and Context Posts for the Week of January 7, 2023
  • Newsletter 191 - January 5, 2024 - Growing Strawberries on Coconut Trees: The Nature of Peace and Peacebuilding in a Collectivist and Illiberal World
  • Newsletter 190 - January 3, 2024 - U.S. Election BI in Context Posts for January 3, 2023
  • Newsletter -189 - January 2, 2024 - A New Year's Gift from Jay Rothman: 31 Definitions of Peace and You

December, 2023

  • Newsletter 188 - December 21, 2023 - What Happens When We Have ANOTHER Election That Both Sides Absolutely Positively Can't Afford to Lose?
  • Newsletter 187 - December 18, 2023 - Colleague and Context Posts for the Week of December 17
  • Newsletter 186 - December 17, 2023 - Jack Williams and the Burgesses Discuss the Israel/Hamas War - Part 2
  • Newsletter 185 - December 16, 2023 - Jack Williams and the Burgesses Discuss the Israel/Hamas War - Part 1
  • Newsletter 184 - December 13, 2023 - Envisioning a Future (Almost) Everyone Will Want to Live In 
  • Newsletter 183 - December 11, 2023 - Intersectionality Can Be Beneficial to Peacebuilding: Jay Rothman
  • Newsletter 182 - December 10, 2023 - Colleague and Context Posts for the Week of December 10
  • Newsletter 181 - December 9, 2023 - Is Intersectionality Dangerous or Benign? Colin Rule Weighs In
  • Newsletter 180 - December 6, 2023 - Lisa Schirch's 5-Point Peace Plan for Israel, Hamas, and the Palestinians More Broadly + Katja Rieger's Comments 
  • Newsletter 179 - December 3, 2023 - Massively Parallel Peacebuilding: A Strategy for Building a Democracy That Lives Up to Its Ideals

November, 2023

  • Newsletter 178 - November 29, 2023 - Colleague and Context Posts for the Week of November 26, 2023 
  • Newsletter 177 - November 19, 2023 - Colleague and Context Posts for the Week of November 19, 2023 
  • Newsletter 176 - November 15, 2023 - The Israel/Hamas War: A Perfect Storm of Complexity and Chaos
  • Newsletter 175 - November 15, 2023 - Intersectionality, Israel, and Peacebuilding: How Do They Mix?
  • Newsletter 174 - November 10, 2023 - More On the Israel/Hamas War from Contributors
  • Newsletter 173 - November 7, 2023 - The Hyper-Polarization Discussion: Where We Have Been and Where We Are Going
  • Newsletter 172 - November 5, 2023 - Colleague and Context Posts for the Week of November 5, 2023 
  • Newsletter 171 - November 3, 2023 Colleagues' Thoughts about the Israel/Hamas War - Part 1
  • Newsletter 170 - November 1, 2023 - Dealing with Risk and Uncertainty

October, 2023

  • Newsletter 169 - October 30, 2023 - Colleague and Context Posts for the Week of October 15, 2023 
  • Newsletter 168 - October 29, 2023 - Julia Chaitin, Israeli Peacebuilder, on the Israeli-Gazan War
  • Newsletter 167 - October 27, 2023 - Daniel Stid Talks about Ways to Strengthen Democracy by Replacing Polarization with Pluralism
  • Newsletter 166 - October 24, 2023 - Special Edition of Colleague and Context Posts: The 2023 Israel-Hamas War
  • Newsletter 165 - October 23, 2023 - Israel, Hamas, Evil, and the Bad-faith Actor Problem
  • Newsletter 164 - October 17, 2023 - Katie Hyten Explains how Essential Partners is Taking Dialogue to Scale
  • Newsletter 163 - October 13, 2023 - Colleague and Context Posts for the Week of October 15, 2023 
  • Newsletter 162- October 10, 2023 - Bad-Faith Actors and the Red/Blue/Gold Divide
  • Newsletter 161 - October 8, 2023 - Colleague and Context Posts for the Week of October 8, 2023 
  • Newsletter 160 - October 6, 2023 - Daniel Stid: Citizens’ Assemblies: An Idea Whose Time Has Come (Again)
  • Newsletter 159 - October 3, 2023 - Fact, Value, Lie, or Uncertainty? How Do We Tell?

September, 2023

  • Newsletter 158 - Sept. 21, 2023 - Colleague and Context Posts for the Week of Sept. 17, 2023 
  • Newsletter 157 - Sept 18, 2023 -Does the Power-With Approach Include Justice? Comments on Our Power-Over/Power-With Essay
  • Newsletter 155 - Sept 14, 2023 - Pro-Democracy Efforts: the Tension between Power-Over or Power-With Approaches
  • Newsletter 156 - Sept 12, 2023 - A Further Discussion of Dialogue
  • Newsletter 154 - Sept 10, 2023- Colleague and Context Posts for the Week of Sept. 10, 2023 
  • Newsletter 153 -  Sept. 7, 2023 - Jay Rothman on Large Scale Interventions
  • Newsletter 152 -  Sept 3, 2023- Colleague and Context Posts for the Week of Sept. 3, 2023 

August, 2023

  • Newsletter 151 - August 31, 2023 - Daniel Stid: Four Ways To Reframe Democracy in America
  • Newsletter 150  - August 28, 2023 - Zach Elwood on the Belief that "Polarization is not the Problem"
  • Newsletter 149 - August 24, 2023 - Colleague and Context Posts for the Week of Aug. 20, 2023
  • Newsletter 148 - August 22, 2023 - More on Constructive Communication
  • Newsletter 147 - August 16, 2023 - Talking with and Listening To People on the Other Side
  • Newsletter 146 - August 13, 2023 - Colleague and Context Posts for the Week of Aug. 13, 2023
  • Newsletter 145 - August 9, 2023 - Anne Leslie: Know Thyself
  • Newsletter 144 - August 6, 2023 - Colleague and Context Posts for the Week of Aug. 6, 2023
  • Newsletter 143 - August 2, 2023 - Constructively Navigating the World of Media Bias

July, 2023

  • Newsletter 142 - July 30, 2023 - Colleague and Context Posts for the Week of July 30, 2023
  • Newsletter 141 - July 27, 2023 - Jay Rothman and Daniela Cohen on the Aria Group School Intervention in Yellow Springs, Ohio
  • Newsletter 140 - July 25, 2023 - Harry Boyte and Marie-Louise Strom: Constructive Nonviolence 
  • Newsletter 139 - July 23, 2023 - Colleague and Context Posts for the Week of July 23, 2023
  • Newsletter 138 - July 20, 2023 -  Civil Rights Mediation Oral History Project: Modern Updates from Lum, Burgess, and Froehlich
  • Newsletter 137 - July 18, 2023 Ted Wetzel's Disagreement Fitness
  • Newsletter 136 - number accidentally skipped.
  • Newsletter 135 - July 16, 2023 -Colleague and Context Posts for the Week of July 16
  • Newsletter 134 - July 13, 2023 - Contradictory Thoughts About Dialogue
  • Newsletter 133 - July 11, 2023 - Seven More Ways to Turn Down the Heat
  • Newsletter 132 - July 9, 2023 -Colleague and Context Posts for the Week of July 9
  • Newsletter 131 - July 7, 2023 - Bridging the Theory/Action Gap:  One Key to Improving the Effectiveness of Efforts to Strengthen Democracy
  • Newsletter 130 - July 5, 2023 - The Key to Saving Democracy: Reducing Polarization? Promoting Justice? It Takes More Than That!

June, 2023

  • Newsletter 129 - June 30, 2023 - A Remarkable Effort to Do Trauma-Informed Peacebuilding Training in Ukraine Amidst Ongoing Trauma
  • Newsletter 128 - June 28, 2023 - Colleague and Context Posts for the Week of June 25, 2023
  • Newsletter 127 - June 26, 2023 - Rachel Kleinfeld and Shamil Idriss on Polarization, Philanthropic Plurality, Social Justice, and Democracy
  • Newsletter 126 - June 22, 2023 - Social Justice Advocacy, Bridge-Building and Philanthropy: How Do These Intersect?
  • Newsletter 125 - June 19, 2023 -  Colleague and Context Posts for week of June 18
  • Newsletter 124 - June 15, 2023 - More Ways to Turn Down the Heat
  • Newsletter 123 - June 12, 2023 - Palma Strand: A Path Out of Polarization: The Strengthening Democracy Challenge and the Civity Storytelling Intervention
  • Newsletter 122 - June 8, 2023 - Reversing or Better Yet, Avoiding, Destructive Escalation
  • Newsletter 121 - June 5 2023 - Colleague and Context Posts for week of June 5
  • Newsletter-120 - June 1, 2023 - Divided Community Project: Speaking Out to Strengthen the Guardrails of Democracy

May, 2023

  • Newsletter 119 - May 30, 2023 - Learning More about How the TRUST Network Does Massively Parallel Peacebuilding
  • Newsletter 118 - May 25, 2023 - Colleague and Context Posts for week of May 22
  • Newsletter 117 - May 22, 2023 - Escalation is the Most Dangerous Force on the Planet. But We Continue to Drive It
  • Newsletter 116 - May 18,2023 - Paul Monteiro, Former Director of the Community Relations Service, Talking About How CRS Works its Magic
  • Newsletter 115 - May 15, 2023 - Colleague and Context Posts for week of May 15
  • Newsletter 114 - May 11, 2023 - An Award for NAFCM + Conflict Mapping and Other Tools for Understanding Complex Problems
  • Newsletter 113 - May 9, 2023 - John Lande: The Importance of Really Listening – For Ourselves, Others, and Democracy
  • Newsletter 112 - May 7, 2023 - Colleague and Context Posts for week of May 8
  • Newsletter 111 - May 4, 2023 - D.G. Mawn Talks About Community Mediation and NAFCM
  • Newsletter 110 - May 2, 2023 - Colleague and Context Posts for week of May 1

April, 2023

  • Newsletter 109 - April 23, 2023 - Colleague and Context Posts for week of April 23
  • Newsletter 108 - April 21, 2023 - ChatGPT — Can It "Listen" Better Than We Can?
  • Newsletter 107 - April 18, 2023 - Sharing Ideas From Around the Globe on Ways to Strengthen Democracy - A BI/IGN Discussion
  • Newsletter 106 - April 16, 2023 - Polarization's Toll on US Credibility, Progressives' Reverse CBT, and Other Colleague and Context Links
  • Newsletter 105 - April 13, 2023 - Our Problem Isn't "Them"
  • Newsletter 104 - April 11, 2023 - Carrie Menkel-Meadow: Freedom of Speech and Freedom to Protest
  • Newsletter 103 - April 8, 2023 - Colleague and Context Posts for week of April 2
  • Newsletter 102 - April 6, 2023 - The Power Strategy Mix — Empowering the Pursuit of the Common Good
  • Newsletter 101 - April 4, 2023 - Alan Yarborough: Getting to Meaning
  • Newsletter 100 - April 2, 2023 - Colleague and Context Posts for week of April 2

March, 2023

  • Newsletter 99 - March 26, 2023 - Julia Roig and James Savage: Exploring Narrative Practices for Broad-based Movements in Contexts of Democratic Decline
  • Newsletter 98 - March 23, 2023 - Helena Desivilya Syna on The Paradox of Tolerance with a response from Heidi Burgess and Guy Burgess
  • Newsletter 97 - March 21, 2023 -  Rachel Kleinfeld's "Five Strategies to Support U.S. Democracy" 
  • Newsletter 96 - March 19, 2023 - Colleague and Context Posts for week of March 12
  • Newsletter 95 March 16, 2023 - Planning a Constructive Confrontation Strategy: Understanding the Relationship between Negotiation and Power 
  • Newsletter 94 March 14, 2023 - Kevin Clements' "Authoritarian Populism and Atavistic Nationalism: 21st Century Challenges to Peacebuilding and Development
  • Newsletter 93 March 12, 2023 - - Colleague and Context Posts for week of March 12
  • Newsletter 92 - March 8, 2023 - Sharp vs. Fuzzy Feedback — The Distinction That Explains Why Society Can Be Both Astonishingly Smart and Incredibly Stupid
  • Newsletter 91 - March 5, 2023 - Colleague and Context Posts for week of March 5
  • Newsletter 90 -- March 2, 2023 - Urban Rural Action Frameworks

February, 2023

  • Newsletter 89 - February 28, 2023 -  Blame and Contribution
  • Newsletter 88 - February 26, 2023 Colleague and Context Posts for the Week of March 26
  • Newsletter 87 - February 23, 2023 - Julia Roig Talks about Weaving a Healthy Democracy in the United States
  • Newsletter 86 - February 21, 2023 Massively Circular Hyper-Polarization
  • Newsletter 85- February 19, 2023 Colleague and Context Posts for the Week of February 19
  • Newsletter 84- February 16, 2023 David Smith: Peace is My Day Job
  • Newsletter 83 - February 14, 2023 - Conflict Core and Overlay Issues
  • Newsletter 82 - February 12, 2023 - Colleague and Context Posts for the Week of February 12
  • Newsletter 81 -February 10, 2023 - The Trust Network: An Example of Massively Parallel Peacebuilding in Action
  • Newsletter 80 - February 7, 2023 - Carol Pauli's "The 'End' of Neutrality: Tumultuous Times Require a Deeper Value"
  • Newsletter 79 - February 5, 2023 - Colleague and Context Posts for the Week of February 5
  • Newsletter 78 - February 2, 2023 - Constructive Confrontation: Applying Conflict Insights from a 1st Party (Not 3rd Party) Perspective

January, 2023

  • Newsletter 77 - January 31, 2023 - Could Massively Parallel Processes Make Hyper-Polarization Worse?
  • Newsletter 76 - January 29, 2023 - Colleague and Context Posts for the Week of January 29
  • Newsletter 75 - January 27, 2023 - Revisiting the Gun Violence Issue and America's Declining Trust and Increasing Sense of Threat
  • Newsletter 74 - January 25, 2023 - Massively Parallel Peacebuilding vs. Massively Parallel Partisanship
  • Newsletter 73 - January 22, 2023 - Colleague and Context Posts for the Week of January 22
  • Newsletter 72 - January 20, 2023 - The Google Maps and Adopt-a-Highway Approach to Systems
  • Newsletter 71 - January 17, 2021 - From the Discussion: Kristin Hansen and the Civic Health Project's Work on De-polarization in America
  • Newsletter 70 - January 15, 2023 - Colleague and Context Posts for the Week of January 15
  • Newsletter 69 - January 12, 2023 - From the Hyper-Polarization Discussion: Anne Leslie on Embracing Ambiguity
  • Newsletter 68 - January 10, 2023 - Addressing the Skeptics and Moving Forward
  • Newsletter 67 - January 3, 2023 - Massively Parallel Peacebuilding/Problem Solving

December, 2022

  • Newsletter 66 - Dec. 18, 2022 - Essential Elements + Obstacles = The Things That Need Doing Matrix
  • Newsletter 65 - Dec. 11, 2022 - Obstacles to Implementing the Elements of Successful Democracy 
  • Newsletter 64 - Dec. 5, 2022 - Essential Elements of Successful Democracies - Part 2

November, 2022

  • Newsletter 63 - Nov. 30, 2022 - Essential Elements of Successful Democracies - Part 1
  • Newsletter 62 - Nov. 17, 2022 - The 2022 Election – Did It Make Hyper-Polarization Better or Worse
  • Newsletter 61 - Nov. 9, 2022 - Fighting Hyper-Polarization for Our Children and Grand Children

October, 2022

  • Newsletter 60 - Oct. 31, 2022 - How Do We Get What We Want and Need? Through Polarization or Bridge-building, Reframing, and "Omni-Win" Approaches?
  • Newsletter 59 - Oct. 24, 2022 -  If You Don't Know Where You Are Going, It Is Going to Be Hard to Get There
  • Newsletter 58 - Oct.17, 2022 -  Developing a Vision for a Society in Which We Would All Like to Live
  • Newsletter 57 - Oct. 12, 2022 -  The Crane Brinton Effect — Why Revolutions Fail
  • Newsletter 56 - Oct. 4, 2022 -  Additional Perspectives on Oppression, Justice, Advocacy, Neutrality, and Peacebuilding 

September, 2022

  • Newsletter 55 - Sept 29, 2022 -  On Oppression, Justice, Advocacy, Neutrality, and Peacebuilding -- Part 3
  • Newsletter 54 - Sept 25, 2022 -  On Oppression, Justice, Advocacy, Neutrality, and Peacebuilding -- Part 2
  • Newsletter 53 - Sept. 21, 2022 - On Oppression, Justice, Advocacy, Neutrality, and Peacebuilding -- Part 1
  • Newsletter 52 - Sept. 16, 2022 - Hyper-Polarization Challenges: Scale, Complexity, and Collaboration
  • Newsletter 51 - Sept. 11, 2022 - Strategies for Revitalizing Democracy in the Post 9/11 Era
  • Newsletter 50 - Sept 7, 2022 - How Can We Reduce Hyper-Polarization? Join BI's Discussion to Share Your Ideas and Learn Others!

Earlier (Pre-Substack) Newsletters

2022

  • Newsletter 49 - July 2, 2022 - BI Announcements and Highlighting the work of Search for Common Ground
  • Newsletter 48 - March 6. 2022 - The Ukrainian War — What Happens When You Have a War That Both Sides Absolutely, Positively Can't Afford to Lose?
  • Newsletter 47 - Jan. 26, 2022 - Guy Burgess's answer to The Bridge Alliance's inquiry about priorities for reducing the now alarmingly high social divisiveness and alienation threatening our ability to function as a democratic republic

2021

  • Newsletter 46 - Oct. 29, 2021 - Examining the problem of over-simplification of causes and conflicts to simple "us-verusu-them" narratives.
  • Newsletter 45- Sept 15, 2021  - A reflection on what the U.S. has—and hasn't—learned since Vietnam.
  • Newsletter 44- June 15, 2021 - Reconciliation--Badly Needed or a Misguided Goal?
  • Newsletter 43 - June 2, 2021 - "Bad-Faith" Actors Part 2 -- Sources of Vulnerability
  • Newsletter 42 - May 3, 2021 - "Bad-Faith" Actors Part 1
  • Newsletter 41 - March 30, 2021 - Coming Home...To Terror :  The King Soopers Mass Shooting
  • Newsletter 40 - February 16, 2021 - Positive Thinking
  • Newsletter 39 - February 5, 2021 - The Implications of John Paul Lederach's notion of "the meeting place" of peace, justice, truth, and mercy being reconciliation.
  • Newsletter 38 -Jan. 26, 2021 -  Avoiding the Category 5 Socio-political Hurricane

2020

  • Newsletter 37 - Dec. 16, 2020 - So Where Do We Go Now?! (After the 2020 Election in the U.S.)
  • Newsletter 36 - Oct. 30, 2020 - Taking Stock [of the Construcive Conflict Initiative] and Looking Ahead
  • Newsletter 35 - Sept. 22, 2020 - Continuing Our Examination of Escalation and Polarization
  • Newsletter 34 - August 27, 2020 - An Examination of Escalation
  • Newsletter 33 - August 19, 2020 - COVID, Racism, and Conflict -- More Thoughts
  • Newsletter 32 - June 22, 2020 - COVID, Racism, and Conflict:  How Can We Respond Constructively?
  • Newsletter 31 - May 11, 2020 - Conflict and COVID-19 ...Continued
  • Newsletter 30 - April 2, 2020 - Conflict and COVID-19 
  • Newsletter 29  - January 14, 2020 - Update on Beyond Intractability's activities

2019

2018

2018 Newsletters

2017 

The Constructive Conflict Initiative Blog Before Substack and Newsletter 50, we also maintained a blog that was different from the Newsletter.  This blog, related to our Constructive Conflict Initiative, was more closely related into topic areas than the early newsletters were.  The CCI Blog is available here.