which plague areas of armed conflict could arise locally.

"Conflict is everywhere,'' said John Davies, the Co-Director of Partners in Conflict Project. "It's not something we're exempt from by living in a beautiful place like Bermuda.'' Dr. Davies also teaches at the University of Maryland and has been involved in peace efforts throughout Eastern Europe and the Middle East.

Yesterday, he spoke to assembled guests at the weekly Hamilton Rotary meeting at the Bermuda Underwater Exploration Institute.

Everyone, Dr. Davies explained, is an "expert in conflict management'' because people had to learn how to react when prevented from doing something they wanted.

But he pointed out: "We tend to focus on the issues, we don't take the opportunity to look at the process through which conflict takes place.

"There are many ways of strategic conflict management,'' he added.

And Dr. Davies said successful conflict management could lead to increases in both social capital (good relationships with a broader range of trust) and human capital (support).

Material resources are limited, explained Dr. Davies, but this potential human resource is unlimited.

However, he said the assumption that people had to focus on their own interests or on the interests of others during conflict resolution was an "over generalisation'' of the process.

Instead, Dr. Davies encouraged his listeners to seek a third alternative of "inter-dependence''.

Hearing, respecting and understanding the values, needs and strengths of others could lead to a stable, vibrant community based on mutual respect, he explained.

And Dr. Davies also credited Transcendental Meditation (TM) techniques with having the power to affect whole communities.

Group practice of TM created "increased harmony on a social level'', was attributed with a 20 percent drop in violent crime in Washington DC, and lowered the recidivism rate among Lebanese prisoners, he added.

John Davies