This article first ran on the Washington File in 1996.

Effective participation and open communication between all parties in a society are essential for functioning democracies to operate effectively and for the long term, a well-known conflict resolution specialist told an African television audience January 18.

"Governments over the people -- which colonialism certainly was, and the residues are still there -- will not last very long," Dudley Weeks, director of the Conflict Partnership Center and a well-known author on the theme of conflict resolution, stressed in a Worldnet television broadcast to Africa.

"Governments for the people are...kind of paternalistic -- they are not going to last" either, he added. "It is only governments of the people that will build effective societies."

Focusing on conflict resolution and its impact worldwide, Weeks said, "We do have cases where we see conflict-ridden societies beginning to move toward healthy resolutions and improved relationships." He cited South Africa as an example of such a society.

He attributed such progress to several key factors:

• the effective use of conflict resolution skills;
  
• the presence of non-governmental organizations working together as coalitions; and
  
• the active participation of women, youth, and other members of society working together for a common cause.

"Those are all things that are helping these societies move forward effectively," he noted.

Another key player in conflict resolution across societies is the news media, he added, recalling the important role the press plays in telling the stories of successful conflict resolution efforts now under way around the world.

"I know this is tough," he acknowledged, "because much of world journalism focuses primarily on the things that are going wrong....

"I believe," however, "the public also wants and needs to hear the success stories in effective conflict resolution."

From his vantage point as a conflict resolution specialist, Weeks said he remains optimistic that progress on the conflict resolution front has been and will continue to be realized.

"I think I am optimistic -- even with all the tragedies going on in the world.... Maybe because people have reached a point where they have realized that the old ways of dealing with conflicts just are not working, and we need to work together" to find new ways of resolving disputes.

Asked what role diversity plays in a society, Weeks said: "The kind of world I do not want is the kind of world where everybody is the same. I think that kind of world will stagnate. I celebrate diversity. I think it enriches the human experience. It enriches the family. It enriches an organization of business, a community, a society, the world, that there are differences, because that helps us open additional windows to our minds and explore possible alternatives. It helps me grow. It helps you grow. So if there is diversity in the world...there will be some conflicts....

"That does not mean that just because we have dealt so ineffectively with many conflicts in the past, that...conflict in and of itself is bad or negative. It is just that we need to realize how we can use our differences in a creative way that helps us add additional possibilities to how we deal with problems and...helps us develop some kind of partnership where we can learn from each other."