Colleague, News, and Opinion Links for the Week of February 15, 2026

Newsletter #425 -February 16, 2025

Highlighted Links

A few suggestions about links that we think are especially interesting.

• Superpower Conflict
  The Clash of Civilizations Was an Inside Job — New reflections on the surprising way in which the clash of civilizations that Huntington envisioned is actually playing out.

• Developing a Unifying Vision
  Liberalism and the search for meaning — From Matthew Yglesias, more on his effort to understand and learn from the many challenges facing liberalism supporters.

• Left / Right Conflict
  Why America’s extremes will both fail — For those who see compromise as the best way of handling our deep differences, a hopeful argument that the extremes are not as powerful as we might have thought.

• Social / Economic Complexity
  One path to U.S. fiscal disaster is most alarming — and most likely — It is said that “things that can’t go on like this, don’t.” This article looks at all of the unsustainable ways in which modern democracies spend money (and what the coming unsustainability crisis might look like).

• Immigration
  Democrats Need A Pro-Worker Platform On Immigration — An argument suggesting that Democrats go beyond simply complaining about ICE’s often indefensible excesses and offer a package of immigration reforms that would wisely and fairly balance the interests of US workers and immigrants.

• Saving Democracy
  ‘Our Democracy’ Isn’t Your Free Pass — A critical essay exploring ways in which people are weaponizing the phrase “our democracy” to advance a partisan political agenda

• Israel / Hamas War
  Hamas’s Boasting Indicts the West — As the aftermath of the October 7-related wars starts to come into focus, disturbing article about Hamas’ reemergence.

Reader Suggested Links

Highlighting links suggested by our readers. Please send us links to things that you find useful.

• Race / Anti-Racism
  No, Billie Eilish, Americans are not thieves on stolen land — A controversial and thought-provoking essay that takes, as its starting point, the belief that the land on which the United States (and other democracies) were built was stolen and ought to be returned to its rightful owners.

• Progressive Left
  San Francisco Identities — A compilation, with accompanying video clips, of the many different identities expressed at San Francisco area public meetings.

• Developing a Unifying Vision
  The Unexpected Persistence of John Rawls — A profile of a philosopher who has done much to help us understand what building a genuinely fair society actually entails.

• Immigration
  I was a combat soldier in Iraq. Here’s the 1 question everyone should be asking about ICE right now — A key question, from someone with experience in conducting security operations in urban/civilian environments, what are ICE officers being told that their mission is?

• Progressive Left
  Why Have Academics Failed To Study Social Justice Ideology? — In a world where there are academic studies on virtually any conceivable topic, hard questions about why so few have dared try to really understand the origins and implications of social justice ideology.

• Social / Economic Complexity
  A consumption tax on Americans is brewing. Tariffs are the dry run. — We have now spent decades resolving disputes between competing priorities by funding them all (and borrowing the money to do so from future generations.) This article looks at where this all ends.

• Israel / Hamas War
  The Palestinian Schools That Teach Children Hate and Death — A hard but critically important question for those seeking to break the cycle of Israeli/Palestinian violence.

  

Colleague Activities

Highlighting things that our conflict and peacebuilding colleagues are doing that contribute to efforts to address the hyper-polarization problem.

• Immigration
  You’re Probably Wrong About The Deportations — We all seem to have very strong (but not necessarily well informed) images about immigration rules and their enforcement. This article seeks to clarify what we should know, but don’t.

• Immigration
  An SOS for the Republic — Daniel Stid first shares a quick primer on the idea of a “republic” before turning to what has unfolded in Minneapolis and why it matters well beyond the city itself.

• Bridge Building
  Building Commnity Capacity in Toxic Times: The Critical Role of Bridging Institutions — A new essay by Martin Carcasson and Willow Paul distinguishing between bridging and bonding institutions and why and how both are important to civic health.

• Effective Problem-Solving
  What Minneapolis Can Teach Us on How to Actively Be Transpartisan — A letter from Jacob Bornstein and Vinay Orekondy -- two of the three principals of Better Together America, reflecting how transpartisans can best respond to the crisis in Minneapolis.

• Theories of Change
  Block, Bridge, and Build: A Framework to Forge a More Democratic Future — We are living through a period of upheaval. In this world of uncertainty. But one thing is clear: the need for coordinated, collective action.

• De-Escalation Strategies
  I work on reducing political contempt — and yet I have contempt for Trump. Is that a contradiction? — Polarization means there will be much contempt and anger. The question is what we do with those feelings.

• De-Escalation Strategies
  Reducing Contempt While Having. . . Contempt? — In this partner essay to Zach Elwood’s essay about Trump and contempt, a 3-time Trump voter and co-founding board member of Convergence reflects on the same question.

• Psychological Complexity
  The Identified Patient — In politics, as in therapy, the problem is usually deeper than it seems, observes Amanda Ripley.

• Effective Problem-Solving
  Best Negotiation Books: A Negotiation Reading List — This list of negotiation books by Program on Negotiation (PON) experts spans a variety of negotiation topics and perspectives. They all offer novel theories, real-world stories, and negotiation strategies that work.

• Climate / Environment / Health
  Economic development is key to addressing climate change — Development-driven adaptation is driving the bus on many, if not most, climate-sensitive outcomes. A summary of our new working paper.

• Education
  Building a Culture of Learning at Scale — A scoping paper from Network Weaver focuses on systems-wide learning that can help to inform systems change efforts in complex contexts.

• Immigration
  Citizens Commission on Immigration — The goal of the Braver Angels’ Citizens Commission on Immigration is to demonstrate to Congress and the nation that Americans with differing views on immigration can find common ground.

• Artificial Intelligence
  What if we used AI to strengthen democracy? — Surveillance, control, propaganda aren’t the only options, says security technologist.

• Peacebuilding
  Commercialising Peace: A Strategic Risk — In Trump’s international Board of Peace, peace is treated less as a collective process grounded in shared norms than as an outcome to be brokered through leverage, deal-making, and strong central authority.

• Developing a Unifying Vision
  Ro Khanna and Thomas Massie: The Seed of a Cross-Partisan Reboot of American Politics — Massie and Khanna come from opposite ends of the political spectrum. But both have shown an unusual willingness to defy their parties, reject establishment orthodoxy, and act in accordance with conscience rather than partisan tribalism.

• Saving Democracy
  Voting in the Primaries Is the Most Important Thing You Can Do for Democracy — and You Probably Aren’t Doing It — The Builders explains why voting in primaries is so important and why low turnout has resulted in the extreme candidates we get.

• US Politics
  Why MAGA-shaming doesn’t work — It might even backfire. The more each side traffics in shame, the more alienated, callous, spiteful, insecure, and sad we all become.

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.)

• Developing a Unifying Vision
  Project 2028 — From Thomas Edsall, an effort to bring together ideas for building a democracy that really does start to repair our deep divisions.

• Developing a Unifying Vision
  Project 2028, the Aftermath — The second of a two-part article series exploring ways in which Democrats might be able to move beyond their highly partisan base and appeal to the rest of the country.

• Israel / Hamas War
  A Second Wave of Popular Anger Is Building in Iran — Stunning news about the incredible courage of the people of Iran who, despite the murderous repression they endured last month, are still challenging the regime’s corrupt, authoritarian rule.

• Israel / Hamas War
  Gaza isn’t Iraq — An explanation of the critically important difference between the Israeli campaign against Hamas in Gaza and United States’ campaign against ISIS and the Taliban.

• Class Inequity
  The Finance Industry Is a Grift. Let’s Start Treating It That Way. — An eye-opening (and blood boiling) account of what the finance sector has done to earn it’s ever larger share of the nation’s aggregate income.

• Progressive Left
  The Stakes Are Too High To Be This Cringe — A sharp but thought-provoking critique of the way in which the Democratic Party is responding to the actions of the Trump administration (and their growing unpopularity).

• World Order
  They Used to Rule the West. Now They’re Dying. — From the author of a new book on “hyperpolitics,” reflections on the changes in the Grand Old Party that made Trump’s ascendancy possible.

• Education
  How to Evaluate Phone Policies in Schools — From key people in one of today’s most successful social movements, an essay focused on what schools ought to be doing to protect their students from omni-present social media.

• Culture and Religion
  Vice and the Crisis of Liberalism — Thoughts about whether the age-old concept of “vice” might help us heal a society plagued by self-destructive behaviors.

• Artificial Intelligence
  The Bots Are Plotting a Revolution, and It’s All Very Cringe — An article about something surprising -- social media sites in which AI bots (not people) exchange thoughts about the world in which they live and how they might better handle their day-to-day activities.

• Authoritarianism
  How Autocrats Meddle With Elections — A primer, for those wishing to defend and strengthen democratic elections, on the sort of things that aspiring autocrats do to undermine both the integrity of, and public confidence in, elections.

• Superpower Conflict
  How the New Misery befell America — The exploration of what caused the most powerful nation in human history to lose its confidence and thoughts about how it might get it back.

• Communication Complexity
  On Fallacies — A thought-provoking essay exploring the complex ways in which people think about and communicate about conflict.

• Theories of Change
  Propaganda, Activism, and Why Beautiful Trouble’s Tactics Work — An exploration of the concept of “beautiful trouble” and the theory of change underlying this powerful advocacy strategy.

• Saving Democracy
  A Law That Might Just Save the Midterms — Amid justified concern about threats to the integrity of the United States’ 2026 elections, an article describing the kind of creative legal strategy that shows great promise as a way of protecting us from these threats.

• Artificial Intelligence
  This Philosopher Is Teaching AI to Have Morals — The profile of the way in which one AI company is trying to embed into its systems the most important of all human thought processes -- morality.

• Immigration
  Five Basic Truths About America’s Most Polarizing Policy Debate — Another excellent article that tries to help us better understand the complexity surrounding immigration.

• Class Inequity
  These White-Collar Workers Actually Made the Switch to a Trade — An important measure of the depth of class differences in the United States is the degree of discomfort that is commonly felt when moving from white-collar to blue-collar jobs.

• US Politics
  Trump Is a Backlash President — An interview with the author of a book on “backlash presidents” -- those elected by disgruntled voters to undo the unpopular actions of preceding administrations.

• Climate / Environment / Health
  The Economics of Climate Adaptation Optimism — As it becomes increasingly clear that a comprehensive climate strategy is going to have to involve major efforts to adapt to changing conditions, a hopeful article highlighting reasons for optimism.

• Education
  These Three Red States Are the Best Hope in Schooling — A stereotype-breaking good-news story highlighting places that have seen major progress in efforts to improve public education.

• Constructively Addressing Complex Issues
  The Real Reason Science Is Broken — Thoughts about how science might be able to restore public confidence and trust while, at the same time, struggling with both the threats and the promises of AI.

• Israel / Hamas War
  The Syrian civil war has killed hundreds of thousands, displaced millions, and caused poor health and widespread poverty — It is said that a social scientist is someone who can be moved to tears by statistics. With respect to Syria, this article cites the kind of statistics that can do this.

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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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