Helping to pave the way for democratic renewal in the United States and abroad

Strengthening American Democracy

The Challenge

Deepening political polarization in the United States is a profound threat to the American people and to the very core of American democracy. As polarization worsens, it will continue to undermine the social fabric of the nation, drive Americans further apart, and make it more difficult to find collaborative ways to address urgent challenges.

To address this crisis, there is a pressing need to better understand the roles that psychological forces and identity-based polarization play to shape our fears, anxieties, and increasing distrust of each other.

With these insights, built on rigorous research and analysis, we hope to better understand the causes of social division and develop new approaches to strengthen social cohesion and American democracy.

Our Approach

To address these challenges, Beyond Conflict combines more than 30 years of conflict resolution experience with brain and behavioral science to understand the causes of social division and deepening polarization in the United States.

We conduct research, design and test new interventions with leading scientists and practitioners, and produce cutting edge publications that help shape new directions in the field of democratic renewal and social cohesion.

America's Divided Mind

Meta-Perception Correction Intervention Video

Democrats and Republicans significantly overestimate the difference between them on key issues, as well as how much the other side dislikes or dehumanizes them. Following the release of the America’s Divided Mind report in 2020, Beyond Conflict and its research partners developed a video designed to correct these misperceptions. This video, which features everyday Americans from across the country, was named one of the most effective tools to reduce support for political violence, anti-democratic attitudes, and animosity across partisan lines in Stanford University’s Strengthening Democracy Challenge.

Current Projects