All nations have their myths.
The peaceful conclusion to last week's army mutiny in Port Moresby brought the usual self-congratulatory claims about Melanesians' ability to 'solve conflict by talking things through'. In this case, 'talking things through' meant abandoning essential reforms, weakening the position of a principled and sensible prime minister, and allowing soldiers who had criminally repudiated their obligations to get off scot-free. This was capitulation, not compromise. And while this crisis may have ended without bloodshed, the same cannot be said of the long-running and ruinous Bougainville rebellion, the bitter violence between Guadalcanal and Malaita islanders in the Solomons, or the recurrent episodes of tribal warfare in the PNG Highlands in which dozens of people are killed. So the 'Melanesian way' is not so apparent in contemporary Melanesia.