Baha’i Chair hosts “High Conflict” researcher Amanda Ripley
February 6, 2024
“The Bahá’í Chair for World Peace at the University of Maryland continued throughout 2023 to advance discourse on global peace through a diverse set of speakers and events. The Chair’s discussions, seminars, and publications sought to examine the complex processes and possibilities of world peace.
An endowed academic program, the Bahá’í Chair promotes a vision of world peace through its ongoing research and publications. The Chair examines how the meanings of peace have changed over time, expanding to more than the simple absence of war.
Instead, peace now concerns debates about human nature, the need for successful global governance, the persistence of gender inequality, the stain of racism and prejudice, and the degradation of the environment. The Bahá’í Chair seeks ways to understand these five challenges and explore approaches to learning about them so as to build a more peaceful world.”
“On October 19, 2023, the Chair held its annual lecture. This year featured noted journalist and New York Times bestselling writer Amanda Ripley, Co-Host of the Slate podcast How-To, and author of High Conflict: Why We Get Trapped and How We Get Out and The Unthinkable. Members from the University of Maryland community, the general public, and the Chair’s international advisory board attended the event in person and online.”
“In a world of constant conflict on both large and small scales, Ripley discussed best practices for getting out of deep disagreements. She described high conflict as the point at which one sorts the world into black and white, good and evil, us versus them. The consequences of this mentality are far-reaching and bring suffering to all involved parties.”
In her newest bestseller, “High Conflict,” author Amanda Ripley refers to the Bahá’í electoral system:
“Right now, some five to seven million people currently do politics in a way that explicitly rejects adversarialism… It’s not a country or a city. It’s a religion. One I knew nothing about before writing this book….
…everything about these elections is designed to reduce the odds of high conflict. There are no parties in Bahá’í elections. No binary categories are allowed. People are not allowed to campaign for a position—or even discuss who might be the best person to serve. They can only discuss which qualities are most needed.
…Bahá’ís try to constrain the ego and induce unity. In every meeting, they follow a protocol called “consultation,” and it’s designed to allow people to speak their mind without getting too attached to their own brilliance.”
YouTube Annual Lecture 2023: Breaking the Spell of High Conflict
The Bahá'í Chair for World Peace
1.17K subscribers
160 views Dec 13, 2023
Conflict, whether political or personal, can escalate and become toxic, as we keep seeing in the news, on social media, in politics. At this level, known as "high conflict," we start sorting the world into good and evil, us and them. Things become suddenly very clear. Our brains behave differently. We tend to exaggerate the differences between ourselves and the other political party or racial or religious group (or sibling or co-worker), without realizing we are doing it. We believe the other side cannot change, even when it can. Eventually, everyone suffers, to varying degrees. To try to understand how people get bewitched by high conflict--and how they get out--Amanda spent four years following a politician in California, a former gang leader in Chicago, a divided synagogue in New York City and other conflict survivors all over the world. She discovered that the secret is not to get out of conflict; conflict itself is essential, and it can be healthy and good. The key is to get out of high conflict. From the stories and the science of conflict, Amanda has identified the "fire-starter" forces that tend to cause high conflict--as well as the practical but counterintuitive rules of "good conflict." This work is surprising and ultimately hopeful, and it has transformed how Amanda operates as a journalist.
Amanda Ripley
Illumine America, Episode 8
April 8, 2022
“Illumine America is a podcast created by the U.S. Baha’i Office of Public Affairs. It explores some of the major issues facing American society, such as economic inequality, racial justice and race unity, the sustainable development of our planet, and more.
Just as much as we’re troubled by the challenges inherent to these issues, we’re also inspired by constructive approaches to them that we see being piloted everyday. Our podcast highlights, or illumines, the work of some of the individuals, communities, and institutions that are bringing fresh insight to these urgent conversations.”