| Benefits of Conflict | |
 |
Louis Kriesberg talks about the development of the field and his work in it, focusing for one, on the understanding that conflicts can have benefits as well as costs. |
|
Paul Wehr suggests that a central goal of the conflict resolution movement is to make conflict harmless. |
|
Peter Coleman describes how an abortion dialogue in Boston had its genesis in a shooting. |
|
The third side can help prevent violence, but it does not resolve the conflict, cautions William Ury. Rather it provides a "container" in which the "lead of destructive conflict" is turned into the "gold of constructive confrontation." |
The Hyper-Polarization Challenge to the Conflict Resolution Field: A Joint BI/CRQ Discussion
BI and the Conflict Resolution Quarterly invite you to participate in an online exploration of what those with conflict and peacebuilding expertise can do to help defend liberal democracies and encourage them live up to their ideals.
Follow BI and the Hyper-Polarization Discussion on BI's New Substack Newsletter.
More from
Beyond Intractability
Beyond Intractability
The Intractable Conflict Challenge
Our inability to constructively handle intractable conflict is the most serious, and the most neglected, problem facing humanity. Solving today's tough problems depends upon finding better ways of dealing with these conflicts. More...
Selected Recent BI Posts
Including Hyper-Polarization Posts
- Massively Parallel Peace and Democracy Building Roles - Part 2 -- The first of two posts explaining the actor roles needed for a massively parallel peacebuilding/democracy building effort to work, which combined with an earlier post on strategy roles, makes up the current MPP role list.
- Lorelei Kelly on Strengthening Democracy at the Top and the Bottom -- Lorelei Kelly describes the work of the bipartisan Select Committee on the Modernization of Congress which passed 202 recommendations, many unanimously. Over 1/2 have been implemented and most others are in progress.
- Massively Parallel Peace and Democracy Building Links for the Week of March 24, 2024 -- A rename of our regular "colleague and context links" to highlight how these readings and the activities they describe all fit within our "massively parallel" peace and democracy building framework--or show why it is needed.
Get the Newsletter
Check Out Our Quick Start Guide
Educators
Consider a low-cost BI-based custom text.
Constructive Conflict Initiative
Join Us in calling for a dramatic expansion of efforts to limit the destructiveness of intractable conflict.
Things You Can Do to Help Ideas
Practical things we can all do to limit the destructive conflicts threatening our future.
Conflict Frontiers
A free, open, online seminar exploring new approaches for addressing difficult and intractable conflicts. Major topic areas include:
Scale, Complexity, & Intractability
Massively Parallel Peacebuilding
Conflict Fundamentals
An look at to the fundamental building blocks of the peace and conflict field covering both “tractable” and intractable conflict.
Beyond Intractability / CRInfo
Knowledge Base
Home / Browse | Essays | Search | About
BI in Context
Links to thought-provoking articles exploring the larger, societal dimension of intractability.
Colleague Activities
Information about interesting conflict and peacebuilding efforts.