The Hyper-Polarization Challenge to the Conflict Resolution Field We 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.
You can download this video from Vimeo for offline viewing. Heidi Burgess: Hi and welcome! She has a very balanced, and we think insightful, view of people on both sides of the red-blue divide in the United States.
We saw her give a talk about her work in Harrisonburg, Virginia where she lives, which she pointed out is very much like a microcosm of the United States.
The city is liberal, and the county is conservative. When you put it together, you see the kinds of conflicts arising that we are seeing all over the country. The story that she told earlier about her work with militias in Harrisonburg was fascinating. So, we asked her to come talk to us at BI, and tell the story again. We also asked her to tell us what has been happening since the election, because I would assume that things have gotten hotter. So, Jayne, why don't you give us the background to your work and tell us what's going on now.
Jayne: Great! Thank you, thanks for inviting me! I really appreciate the time. I would say that to say I been doing a lot of work on this is maybe a little bit of an exaggeration. I am working with a lot of other people, but also just mostly at this point it's very exploratory. It's not like we convened any big conversations. I've had personal conversations with people and I'll talk about that, because I think all good work in this area has to start with good analysis and relationship building, which takes time.
