Polarization


Laura Chasin suggests that that the degeneration of public discourse poses a threat to democracy.

William Ury begins explaining his role in trying to prevent a civil war in Venezuela, where the country is extremely polarized between those who support the president and those who oppose him. Like many other countries, it is essentially a conflict between the "haves" and "have nots." Before Ury came in and introduced his notion of "the third side" or people "for the whole," there was no room for neutrals-people were forced to take a side.

Terrence Lyons talks about the roles that diaspora populations can play both as spoilers and as dialogue participants.

What's an "extremist?" Roy Lewicki discusses how language can make a conflict better or worse.

Peter Coleman describes an abortion dialogue in which the parties came to respect each other and protect one another, but they were still very polarized on the abortion issue.
This rough transcript provides a text alternative to audio. We apologize for occasional errors and unintelligible sections (which are marked with ???).
Beyond Intractability Version II
Copyright © 2003-2006 The Beyond Intractability Project
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