Massively Parallel Peace and Democracy Building Links for the Week of November 17, 2024
Newsletter #299 — November 17, 2024
Reader Suggested Links
Highlighting links suggested by our readers. Please send us links to things that you find useful.
Progressive Left
How the Ivy League Broke America — From David Brooks, an analysis of why the rise of the meritocratic elite was accompanied by a simultaneous collapse in the public's trust in its educated elite and the institutions in which they work.US Election
Farewell to the “Rising American Electorate” — A postmortem on the theory that the changing demographics of the electorate would lead to Trump's defeat.US Election
Trump’s recess appointments gambit? A power grab hiding in plain sight. — A detailed look at one of the strategies that President Elect Trump intends to use to expand Presidential power by bypassing one of the key Constitutional "checks and balances."Disinformation
Inside the Republican false-flag effort to turn off Kamala Harris voters — A look at an example of the deceptive way in which the Republican Party practices hardball politics and, more generally, the way real world politics deviates from the democratic ideal.Class Inequity
Peter Thiel and the Triumph of the Counter-Elites — A look at the wealthy elites who are now part of the anti-elites.Social Complexity
Trump Has Put an End to an Era. The Future Is Up for Grabs. — A reminder that, while the recent election may have been a major break with the past, the future that it portends is fraught with uncertainty.US Election
Beware the Trifecta: History Shows Full Control of Government Is Fleeting — A reassuring history for those worried about the possibility that Republican control of Congress may give President Elect Trump a long-term lock on power.
Colleague Activities
Highlighting things that our conflict and peacebuilding colleagues are doing that contribute to efforts to address the hyper-polarization problem.
US Election
Which Way Forward for Red and Blue? — Jonathan Stray has assembled an overview of left and right leaning pundits' views on the election, concluding that "when you shade each state based on 2024 election results, the country looks pretty purple."Constructive Communication
6 Reasons Why Understanding Each Other Is More Important Than Ever — Trying to understand the other side is more important now than ever, says Starts with US. They explain why here.Culture and Religion
Faith in Policy: Right-sizing religious actors’ role in democratic processes — This brief from Search for Common Ground takes a nuanced approach to the role of religious actors in civic space, highlighting some of the ways in which their positive impact has been promoted and more negative influences mitigated.Interstate War
War and peace, and the political (dis-)order — A podcast on political strategy through the ages from Clausewitz to Fukuyama from Conflict Transformation, Peacebuilding and Security.Constructive Communication
Working on the Ground with Communities — From the Harwood Institute for Public Innovation, case examples of how it is possible to build more equitable, fair, just, inclusive and hopeful paths forward.Peacebuilding
PeaceCon 2024 Videos — These 38 videos show some of the more interesting and important sessions from this year's meeting of the Alliance for Peacebuilding.Peacebuilding
From Ashes to Empathy: Navigating the Path to Peace in a World Divided by Conflict — From the International Center for Religion & Diplomacy, a blog arguing religious peacemakers can be vital agents of change.US Election
Outlooks on Trump’s election — Framechange is a non-partisan publication aimed at helping people understand different perspectives on news and events. Read their compilation of views about Trump’s election.US Election
A Post-Election Path Forward — Jacob Borenstein argues that we can heal our country though local action. We should start, he says, by listening to community needs and aspirations.
News and Opinion
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. (Formerly, Beyond Intractability in Context.)
US Election
Why We Got It So Wrong — A must-read exploration of the origins of our current predicament and thoughts about the big thing we need to do to get out of it.Saving Democracy
A Reckoning for the Pro-Democracy Community — From a big supporter of pro-democracy efforts, real concern about the degree to which the movement is dominated by progressives (with very little conservative involvement).US Election
The Musk-Ramaswamy Project Could Be Trump’s Best Idea — From the Wall Street Journal, an explanation of why many people think that the proposed Department of Government Efficiency is actually a good idea.US Election
How Resilient Is the Emerging Trump Coalition? — A compilation (with lots of links) of what leading political scientists are saying about the likelihood that Donald Trump will be able to hold his political coalition together.Class Inequity
What Does HUD Have to Show for the Trillions It’s Spent? — Hard questions about whether or not the Department of Urban Development has produced positive results commensurate with the public's investment (and a reminder of the importance of quality program evaluation).US Election
How to Handle Kennedy as America’s Top Health Official — An interesting essay written by a health care professional looking for a constructive way to engage with Robert Kennedy -- Trump's nominee for Secretary of Health and Human Services.US Election
Dear Democrats, I Tried To Warn You — A particularly perceptive "I told you so" article highlighting lost opportunities associated with the Democrat's reluctance to seriously consider the views of its critics.US Election
When Will Democrats Learn to Say No? — An argument that the key to building a super majority capable of defusing the United States' 50/50 political split lies in finding a way to say no to those on the political extremes.Israel / Hamas War
Israel's Changing War — From an Israeli perspective, thoughtful reflections on how the war has changed over the last year.US Election
The End of the Obama Coalition — A detailed look at the strengths (and now weaknesses) of the Obama coalition that ruled the United States for 12 of the last 16 years.Immigration
Trump’s Mass Deportation Promise — A semi-friendly and semi-critical look at Trump's mass deportation plans that highlights ways in which things could go both right and wrong.Media Reform
How Persuasion Will Cover the Trump Presidency — From Persuasion, their thoughts on how the media might most constructively cover the President Elect.Immigration
How do countries measure immigration, and how accurate is this data? — Hard data for those who want a more reliable basis for evaluating the claims made by the various sides of the immigration conflict.Israel / Hamas War
Contextualized and Decontextualized: Israel’s Fight for Truth — An update on the changing ways in which people try to understand the context of Israel's ongoing wars.Developing a Unifying Vision
Endless compassion — A hopeful argument that the voters' rejection of the orthodoxies of the political left will open the door to a more compassionate future -- a future that benefits everyone.Interstate War
From Terror Tunnels to Suicide Drones — An examination of some of the ways in which the ongoing wars in the Middle East are driving a rapid cycle of both offensive and defensive innovation -- a cycle that is transforming the nature of war for everyone.US Election
The Democratic Blind Spot That Wrecked 2024 — An unusual and quite perceptive article describing how Democrats were lulled into a false sense of security.Social Complexity
Trump Faces a Different World in Term Two — A look back at Trump's 1st term and reflections of how different things are today.Progressive Left
The Democrats Are the HR Department of Political Parties — An examination of the ways in which the Democratic Party followed its own advice with respect to diversity, equity, and inclusion.Interstate War
Chuck Hagel: Why I’m Worried About Our Military — From a former Secretary of Defense, thoughtful reflections on on the dangers facing the military and the country (and advice for our incoming president).
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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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