Chandara Khun - Academia.edu (original) (raw)

Papers by Chandara Khun

Cambodia’s 2013 election was characterized by both the growing engagement of young voters and by ... more Cambodia’s 2013 election was characterized by both the growing engagement of young voters and by numerous instances of collective violence. How will these developments impact Cambodian politics in the lead-up to the 2018 National Assembly election?

Only inclusive policies through a more representative and responsive government may assure Cambod... more Only inclusive policies through a more representative and responsive government may assure Cambodia’s stability. Despite the fact that the kingdom has known a rapid economic growth over a decade, a fair treatment of the government and equitable sharing of the growth are still dubious. In fact, recent outrages of the people may be perceived as their reactions to the government’s discriminatory behaviors in favor of particular geographical locations and social groups through its institutions and policies. Such circumstances demand the government not only to reflect on a widespread and fair distribution of social revenues but also a well-balanced system of government and strong institutions for building a linkage of people-government interaction.

The 4th –June event deeply roots in the heart of every Khmer Krom and marks their collectively sh... more The 4th –June event deeply roots in the heart of every Khmer Krom and marks their collectively shared memory with a physical division from their motherland and compatriots. Countless attempts of Vietnamization put a question of their identity even more problematic. Their rights of the indigenous peoples are oppressed in order to assimilate them with the Vietnamese society and culture. Consequently, while their traditions have been invented to adapt to new circumstances, many commemorative a ctivities have been initiated to face Vietnam‟s assimilation. Also, because of their spiritual and geographical connectedness to their motherland, Khmer Krom pass across Vietnam-Cambodia borders continuously to build a ground for supporting their Khmer‟s identity in Vietnam. This paper argues that the national identity of Khmer Krom has been preserved not only by invented traditions and commemorative activities having grounds in Vietnam but also by external supports of Khmer Krom and their compatriots in Cambodia.

China was recently described by the Prime Minister Hun Sen as Cambodia‟s “most trusted friend”. T... more China was recently described by the Prime Minister Hun Sen as Cambodia‟s “most trusted friend”. This claim might be proved by a flood of China‟s aid as well as her sharp growing trade and investments in the last decade, which put China the biggest donor and the largest investor. However, Cambodia-China relations stretch much longer than what we see at the present and might be even more complex in the old days. Hence, I begin to examine how their connections have developed over time, especially at each cross section of the Cold War and the post-Cold War periods. Then, I will study closely what made these two countries approach each other and became the strategic partners in Southeast Asia by classifying each party‟s interests into economic and strategic characteristics. This classification might, on one hand, project a clear picture of Cambodia‟s unequal status in the relations, and, on the other hand, illustrate its growing independence from China‟s influence. After all, the paper discusses how this bilateral relationship might have the implication on Cambodia‟s domestic politics and vice versa .From Cambodia‟s perspectives, I argues that their current relations might widen the economic inequality and make the situations of human rights worse in Cambodia so this pair of consequences would, in turn, have domino effects on their future relations through the declining strategic interests of Cambodia‟s government, particularly from the post-national election 2013 onwards.

‘Government’, the most single important criterion of States, is subjected to analysis in every cy... more ‘Government’, the most single important criterion of States, is subjected to analysis in every cycle of State’s life—its creation, existence, and collapse. Though ‘government’ appears to be the most important actor in every State’s cycle, this paper will more emphasize on the middle life of States that is longer and seems to be more complicated than other stage. This study will end up with a presumption that a balance of hierarchical relations and an assurance of the identity of States and peoples are the emerging new and the most important roles ‘government’ has to sustain for a stability of States and good relations with others.

The focus of this thesis is to study close relations between dramatic shifts in young demographic... more The focus of this thesis is to study close relations between dramatic shifts in young demographics and growing youth activism in Cambodia, which recently led to increasing confrontations and sometimes deadly clashes between the government and youth. This thesis develops theoretical frameworks that are applied to address three hypotheses to see whether a transformation of Cambodian youth from the minority to the majority group of the population necessitates reorganization of the state institutions, Cambodian youth of better education are more likely to participate in politics and capable of mobilizing others for political engagement, and generational confrontations and collective violence between the government of the elderly political leaders and Cambodian youth are resulted from their loss of trust in the institutions and the absence of the public space as an alternative to the state institutions for them, are correct or not. This research found that Cambodia has already become a country of young population since 2008 and, unlike their parents, most young Cambodians are literate; but both the National Assembly and the Senate are dominated by elderly political leaders. Also, civil society organizations have no regular and persistent platforms for Cambodian youth to work out their demands with the government while traditional media is dominantly controlled by the state and the government-allied private companies, and the social media is carefully censored. These situations very likely justify the above three hypotheses, so youth integration into the state institutions and more public space in variable forms are suggested as mechanisms to resolve and prevent crises of this phenomenon. Though this thesis may have its constraints in areas of its theoretical frameworks due to an early assumption of the literature and a quantitative method regarding data collection on the internet, its findings produce very fruitful inputs for the government‘s and non-governmental organizations‘ work and policy as well as the field of research alike since the theme of research is new.

Books by Chandara Khun

Despite its introduction into the Kingdom for nearly a century ago, Cambodia’s representative dem... more Despite its introduction into the Kingdom for nearly a century ago, Cambodia’s representative
democracy has retained the “restrictive” characteristics of the first constitutional
monarchy in the current, second regime of constitutional monarchy. While constitutional
frameworks have often been used to legitimate the possession of exclusive state power
by an individual or a dominant state institution, the source of power has moved from
the state to the people. Interestingly, the principle of “liberal multi-party democracy”, as
an integral part of the 1991 Paris Peace Accords, was integrated into the 1993 Constitution
as one of the permanent and untouchable constitutional norms. In other words, any
change to the fundamental rules governing the relationship between the state and the
people must occur within the limits of this principle. This chapter aims to provide an
insight into the concept and constitutional framework of this principle through which
state power and citizens’ rights and freedoms are exercised, to discuss the current practices
of state organs in compliance with this constitutional norm and attempts to analyze
how this principle may be enhanced to build up state institutions as the only legitimate
mechanism for achieving the ideal of liberal democracy and assuring the representativeness
and responsiveness of the government. [Link: http://www.kas.de/kambodscha/en/publications/47410/]