The Political Economy Of The Cambodian Transition

Cambodia underwent a triple transition in the 1990s: from war to peace, from communism to electoral democracy, and from command economy to free market. This book addresses the political economy of these transitions, examining how the much publicised international intervention to bring peace and democracy to Cambodia was subverted by the poverty of the Cambodian economy and by the state's manipulation of the move to the free market. This analysis of the material basis of obstacles to Cambodia's democratisation suggests that the long-established theoretical link between economy and democracy stands, even in the face of new strategies of international democracy promotion.

Cambodia underwent a triple transition in the 1990s: from war to peace, from communism to electoral democracy, and from command economy to free market. This book addresses the political economy of these transitions, examining how the much publicised international intervention to bring peace and democracy to Cambodia was subverted by the poverty of the Cambodian economy and by the state's manipulation of the move to the free market. This analysis of the material basis of obstacles to Cambodia's democratisation suggests that the long-established theoretical link between economy and democracy stands, even in the face of new strategies of international democracy promotion.

This title was first published in 2001. This text offers a comprehensive view of controversial issues surrounding Cambodia's past, present and possible future development. It brings together a selection of journal articles about the wartorn country to examine critical issues concerning change and continuity in contemporary Cambodian politics. The book covers violence, war and peace, the Constitution, human rights and the pursuit of justice, democratic development and dilemmas, gender and ethnic relations and economic development and problems. These themes should be instructive for scholars, policymakers and interested individuals dealing with what has been termed "triple transition": from armed conflict to the end of violent hostility, from political authoritarianism to liberal democracy and from socialist economic systems to market-driven or capitalist ones. The book shows that the trajectory towards peace, democracy and sustainable development is complex, full of dangers and in need of careful management.

" When United Nations sponsored elections were held in 1993, there were high hopes that Cambodia would finally be able to escape the nightmare of war, the killing fields, famine, and economic turmoil that its people had endured since 1970. Large amounts of international development assistance, a rapidly expanding NGO sector, and a pragmatic power-sharing arrangement between former adversaries, seemed to bode well for the future. Yet, as the country was once again preparing for elections in 1998, serious tensions and conflicts continued to undermine the transition process. This book examines Cambodia's uneasy renaissance from years of conflict, isolation and authoritarian rule. It assesses, in particular, the efforts of the government, NGOs, and the international community to facilitate Cambodia's various transitions to peace, democracy, and a market economy, as well as the strengthening of civil society. Copublished with the United Nations Research Institute for Social Development "

In the most in-depth look at education in Cambodia to date, scholars long engaged in research on Cambodia provide historical context and unpack key issues of high relevance to Cambodia and other developing countries as they expand and modernize their education systems and grapple with challenges to providing a quality and equitable education.

This book illustrates the limits to the 1990s UNTAC peacekeeping intervention in Cambodia and raises a critical challenge to the assumptions underpinning key tenets of the 'Liberal Project' as a mechanism for resolving complex, severe struggles for elite political power in developing countries. The book highlights the limitations of externally imposed power-sharing. In the case of Cambodia, the imagined effect was a coalition that would share power democratically. However, this approach was appropriate only for resolving the superpower conflict that had created Cambodia's war. Rather than bringing long-term peace to Cambodia, Roberts argues, it created the temporary illusion of a democratic system that in fact recreated the military conflict and housed it in a superficial coalition. The book challenges assumptions regarding the inevitability of the globalization of liberalism as a means of ordering non-western societies. It explains the failure of democratic transition in terms of the impropriety and weakness of the plan which preceded it, and in terms of the elite's traditional reliance on absolutism and resistance to the concept of 'Opposition'.

Neoliberal economics have emerged in the post-Cold War era as the predominant ideological tenet applied to the development of countries in the global south. For much of the global south, however, the promise that markets will bring increased standards of living and emancipation from tyranny has been an empty one. Instead, neoliberalisation has increased the gap between rich and poor and unleashed a firestorm of social ills. This book deals with the post-conflict geographies of violence and neoliberalisation in Cambodia. Applying a geographical analysis to contemporary Cambodian politics, the author employs notions of neoliberalism, public space, and radical democracy as the most substantive components of its theoretical edifice. He argues that the promotion of unfettered marketisation is the foremost causal factor in the country’s inability to consolidate democracy following a United Nations sponsored transition. The book demonstrates Cambodian perspectives on the role of public space in Cambodia's process of democratic development and explains the implications of violence and its relationship with neoliberalism. Taking into account the transition from war to peace, authoritarianism to democracy, and command economy to a free market, this book offers a critical appraisal of the political economy in Cambodia.

5. Persecution of Cambodia's Ethnic Vietnamese Communities During and Since the UNTAC Period -- 6. The Nature and Causes of Human Rights Violations in Battambang Province -- 7. The Politics of Getting the Vote in Cambodia -- 8. Cambodian News Media in the UNTAC Period and After -- Appendix 1: Agreement on a Comprehensive Settlement of the Cambodia Conflict (The Paris Agreements and Annex 1) -- Appendix 2: Chronology -- Index