Inside Polarisation I Conflict Matters Workshop

For the second series of Conflict Matters Workshops we invited Bart Brandsma to outline the dynamics of polarisation and to explain how to create a strategy of depolarisation

Us versus them comes in many forms. EU versus UK, Muslim versus non-Muslim, believers versus non-believers, left versus right, men versus women, teachers versus parents... the list is endless. Underneath we can see a universal pattern and a dynamic that we urgently need to understand.

The first workshop in this series took place in Loughbrickland, Northern Ireland from 24-26 October 2018, the second one in Barcelona, Spain from 20-22 March 2019 and the third one in Cluj, Romania, from 12-14 June 2019. On the eve of each training workshop, Bart Brandsma gave a lecture to share his vision with a broader audience.

Bart Brandsma (1967) is a Dutch philosopher, independent trainer and consultant who works throughout Europe on local and national issues, and is author of the book Polarisation: understanding the dynamic of us versus them.
With a small team of dedicated people, he trains and advises professionals – such as mayors, public prosecutors, policymakers, teachers, school heads, prison personnel and prison directors, radicalisation experts and counterterrorism teams, police professionals, municipality workers, youth and social workers, dialogue experts, communication advisors, journalists, etc.

For the second series of Conflict Matters Workshops we invited Bart Brandsma to outline the dynamics of polarisation and to explain how to create a strategy of depolarisation

Us versus them comes in many forms. EU versus UK, Muslim versus non-Muslim, believers versus non-believers, left versus right, men versus women, teachers versus parents... the list is endless. Underneath we can see a universal pattern and a dynamic that we urgently need to understand.

The first workshop in this series took place in Loughbrickland, Northern Ireland from 24-26 October 2018, the second one in Barcelona, Spain from 20-22 March 2019 and the third one in Cluj, Romania, from 12-14 June 2019. On the eve of each training workshop, Bart Brandsma gave a lecture to share his vision with a broader audience.

Bart Brandsma (1967) is a Dutch philosopher, independent trainer and consultant who works throughout Europe on local and national issues, and is author of the book Polarisation: understanding the dynamic of us versus them.
With a small team of dedicated people, he trains and advises professionals – such as mayors, public prosecutors, policymakers, teachers, school heads, prison personnel and prison directors, radicalisation experts and counterterrorism teams, police professionals, municipality workers, youth and social workers, dialogue experts, communication advisors, journalists, etc.