The truth is that cultural change is not readily achieved merely by the use of logic, reason, persuasion or education.

People of whatever colour, country or creed turn out to be amazingly reluctant to abandon their most long held and cherished cultural beliefs and norms.

This is the case even in the face of clear evidence that the prevailing culture is a major impediment to the successful introduction of important and necessary changes.

In the case of nations, governments often attempt to impose change through a mixture of incentives, propaganda, threats, coercion and, in extremis, violence up to and including mass murder.

Thus, Lenin, Stalin and others presided over the deaths of at least 30 million Russians as they and their Communist Party colleagues sought to create a "dictatorship of the proletariat".

In China, Mao Tse Tung is estimated to have directly or indirectly caused the deaths of at least 70 million people and in Cambodia the infamous Pol Pot regime systematically murdered 3.5 million of the brightest and best educated people in a vain endeavour to create a "perfect" socialist agrarian society.

Despite such appalling conduct, it is significant that the fundamental cultural values and norms of Russia, China and Cambodia remain essentially unchanged today.

The same can just as easily be said for virtually all other countries.

It is clear from history that, while genuine and profound cultural change is possible, this happens only over many centuries, with long periods of progress and regression being experienced during that time.

It seems to me that this insight into human behaviour, while easily derived through a study of history, remains widely misunderstood or ignored by those who seek to lead and govern us.

History is filled with examples of where serious misunderstandings and warfare have arisen out of the mutual inability of leadership groups in different nations to understand the cultural context within which both they and others make judgements and decisions.

What has been correctly described as America's "catastrophic victory" in Iraq and, to a lesser degree, in Afghanistan, is a modern example of this.

In relation to Papua New Guinea, it is clear that the prevailing Melanesian cultural norms or, perhaps, a distortion of those norms, constitute a serious barrier to progress towards becoming a modern state.

The current parliamentary, bureaucratic and business elites have become very adept at exploiting Melanesian culture to further their own interests, whether this is done lawfully for proper purposes or otherwise.

Happily, there are new voices being heard who are identifyingthis behaviour and pointing out its consequences, at least to those who will listen.

Sadly, at present, they appear to be voices in the wilderness, as they have yet to have much impact upon how PNG is led and governed.

The history of the rise of the West points to a protracted period of struggle in the developing world as leadership groups strive to create a significantly modified indigenous culture which takes up the best of what modern science, technology and culture has to offer without jettisoning the most cherished parts of their own distinctive cultures.

My guess is that, in an increasingly politically fragmented (albeit technologically connected) world, we can collectively look forward to several centuries of distress and disruption until anything dimly resembling a set of universal human cultural values and norms actually appears.

As someone who has tried to implement cultural change on a small scale, I can only say to those attempting this mammoth task, "good luck with that".