POU SOTHIRAK/GEOFF WADE/MARK HONG (eds.): Cambodia. Progress and Challenges since 1991 (original) (raw)
Related papers
CAMBODIA'S FOREIGN RELATIONS IN REGIONAL AND GLOBAL CONTEXTS
KAS Cambodia, 2017
A look at Cambodia’s history and present shows the multifaceted nature of its foreign relations and how the relations have shaped the political, socio-cultural and economic landscape of the Kingdom. In this regard, foreign relations, simply put the relations between Cambodia and other states or international institutions, have been a double-edged sword. On one side, there were conflicts, war and diplomatic tensions due to reasons of ideology and national interest, imperialism and mutual misunderstanding. A case in point is the Preah Vihear conflict between Thailand and Cambodia as well as the Indochina war in the 60s and bombardments against Cambodia in the 70s. On the other side, foreign relations have been a source of inspiration, cooperation and development. New political and economic ideas have been exchanged across borders and led to growth and prosperity. Common international environmental and security challenges have been tackled in a cooperative way sharing the same vision. There are countless examples buttressing the positive effects of cooperation like the UNTAC peace mission, the results of development cooperation and ASEAN. Even if it is not always easy to bring stakeholders together, to create a common basis of mutual understanding, to design cross border decision-making procedures or to overcome national interests and historical resentments, the avoidance of war and insecurity is worth all the efforts. Cambodia has, since 1991, deepened and extended its foreign relations with regional and international partners, always envisioning the relevance of national stability, national interests and sovereignty. It is due to the importance of Cambodia´s foreign relations that Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung Cambodia, in cooperation with the editors of this book, decided to create a comprehensive source of information on the Foreign Relations in Regional and Global Contexts of the Kingdom of Cambodia. As there is, to-date, a limited number of publications available, this book serves as a useful guide into the different relations and dynamics between Cambodia and its diverse cooperation partners. The publication is a comprehensive and thought-provoking contribution to the academic field of foreign relations and international studies as well as to all interested people. One particular aim of the book has been to motivate Cambodian scholars and students to academically engage with research questions about the relations of Cambodia with other countries and contribute with their articles towards the analysis and general better understanding of Cambodia’s foreign relations. The book is structured in four main parts, namely the relations with neighboring countries and maritime southeast Asia, relations with regional and global powers, memberships in international organizations and economic integration and security policy. Articles about Cambodia’s relations with neighboring countries and maritime southeast Asia is mainly concentrating on the difficult position Cambodia has, being located in the middle of two strong countries: Thailand and Vietnam. To give a balanced view the editors and KAS chosen to give a platform for authors from both of these countries. This part of the book also enlightens Cambodia’s relations to Laos and in general the importance of relations to the neighboring countries in the context of ASEAN. Articles about Cambodia’s relations with regional and global powers, especially the bounds to the three superpowers China, United States and the Soviet Union/Russia is the central theme of the publication. The tensions and cooperation Cambodia had with these countries are interwoven with all other parts of the book. Other partner countries focused on are the European Union, Australia, Japan, South Korea, and India. These chapters give the reader an insight about the rapidly rising economic ties Cambodia is establishing. Furthermore, the publication contains articles about Cambodia’s membership in international organizations and economic integration and security cooperation. Articles introduce the reader to Cambodia’s role in the ASEAN and its relation to the United Nations. Economically and security wise the reader learns about Cambodia’s defense policy, the Greater Mekong Subregional Cooperation (GMS) and Cambodia’s integration in global economic and financial systems.
Contemporary Southeast Asia, 2021
Cambodia's changing relations with the so-called "international community", including the European Union's decision to partially withdraw Cambodia's preferential trade benefits and the closure of the Swedish Embassy in 2020, have given rise to concerns about Cambodia's impending break with the West and tilt towards China. This article examines how Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen has negotiated public concerns about the adjustments in international support from donor countries and institutions, particularly following the 2018 elections. Through an examination of his speeches since the early 2000s, this article argues that one of Hun Sen's key rhetorical strategies is his sustained engagement with an inherent paradox of "the international community": the possibility for actors to become morally excluded from, but remain structurally integrated in, the international community. Six themes he thereby developed inform his nationalist message about the advantages arising from the changing nature of Cambodia's international cooperation, in which Cambodia is able to engage the world on an equal footing with other countries while free of any constraints imposed by its international donors. In this vision, the international order becomes a "sphere of opportunity", rather than a "sphere of scrutiny", for Cambodia.
Introduction to Contemporary Cambodia
"Following this general introduction we first focus our attention towards examining Political and Economic Tensions, where we set the stage for understanding many of the major recent developments that have shaped the political economy of contemporary Cambodia. A chapter called “The Contemporary Geopolitics of Cambodia: Alignments in Regional and Global Contexts” by Sok Udom Deth, Kairat Moldashev and Serkan Bulut is our starting point, where the authors trace the key geopolitical trends that have shaped the country’s position in the world. While they offer a brief historical overview that reaches back to the 18th century and covers the twists and turns that came with French colonization, independence and the war in Vietnam, their primary concern is for more recent events, such as the accession into ASEAN in 1999 and the WTO in 2004 as examples of deepening integration into regional and global forms of capitalism. In particular, they discuss the implications of China’s rising influence and the implications Cambodia faces with the purported US pivot back towards Southeast Asia."
Contemporary Southeast Asia
is an excellent and amazingly detailed historical account of ASEAN's first fifty years. The book benefits enormously from Weatherbee's long personal history as a scholar of ASEAN and an unusually well-connected academic who can draw on his experiences working in Southeast Asia to provide personal connections and insights to many of the events he describes. As noted, the book is packed with details about virtually all of the events that have shaped ASEAN during its long history. While the book is primarily descriptive, it does provide some useful analysis of these events. The book stands as a relatively brief yet surprisingly comprehensive overview. For this reviewer, this book will from now on serve as the first reference point for sourcing information about the organization's history. The book's analysis creates a picture of ASEAN as a highly reactive but relatively fragile institution whose accomplishments, over the decades, are worthy of considerable critical scrutiny. In one of the book's more telling chapters (pp. 199-226), Weatherbee reviews numerous examples of territorial conflicts between the member states, many of which remain unresolved or have the potential to flare up again. He notes the ways in which these disputes often came close to or even resulted in violence-in the case of the Preah Vihear temple on the Thai-Cambodia border, considerable violence-in defiance of ASEAN's professed norms. In these cases, outside actors, notably the International Court of Justice, were far more instrumental in facilitating resolutions than ASEAN. These observations are particularly relevant given ASEAN's repeated claims of having prevented violent conflict between its members. This is, at best, an overstatement. In some cases, the existence of ASEAN has facilitated relationships that proved valuable in resolving the situation, such as Indonesia's decision to inject itself into the Preah Vihear temple dispute or in helping to mitigate intra-ASEAN divisions after the 2012 ASEAN Ministerial Meeting which failed to produce a consensus over the South China Sea. However, the organization itself was usually a bystander. Of course, to advocates of ASEAN, it is precisely the creation of a general environment that is conducive to such political interactions that makes ASEAN valuable. The possibility that ASEAN embodies a kind of multilateralism
CAMBODIA 2015: 30 YEARS OF HUN SEN’S GOVERNMENT AND THE PROGRESSIVE CENTRALIZATION OF POWER
In 2015 Cambodia celebrated the anniversary of 30 years of Hun Sen's government. This article argues that this anniversary coincided with a crisis of hegemony of both the leadership and the Hun Sen's government. During 2015 Hun Sen tempted to face the crisis without a precise strategy. The most important was the so called «culture of dialogue» with the opposition coalition and its leader Sam Rainsy. In a first stage this dialogue was unexpectedly fruitful, but after a few months was interrupted and the two parties plunged in the traditional clash. In terms of international relations, the Cambodian government has further strengthened its relations with China. The solid relationships with Beijing have allowed Phnom Penh an approach more assertive in respect of Vietnam and of others ASEAN members.
Cambodia's ASEAN Membership Revisited: Challenges and Opportunities
This is a critical review which aims at investigating the challenges and opportunities for Cambodia as a member of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) as well as the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC). This study relies on secondary data which are derived from the literature through an extensive literature review of various conventional and online publications, including books, journals, government publications, magazines, periodicals, reports, etc. The author uses content or document analysis as the basis for the research design for this study. The results reveal that Cambodia, after almost two decades as a member of ASEAN, faces a lot of challenges which include human resource development challenges, mismatch between education and employment, higher education and legal structure challenges, infrastructure development challenges, limited awareness and engagement in ASEAN and AEC processes, and foreign policy improvement challenges. At the same time Cambodia is also able to seize plenty of opportunities as an ASEAN member state. Those opportunities are Cambodia's entry into the ASEAN Free Trade Area, improved relations with ASEAN Dialogue Partners, restoration and improvement of its foreign policy, and the integration into the ASEAN Economic Community. In this study, specific suggestions are put forward for Cambodia to improve its role and status in ASEAN and recommendations for further research are then considered.
ASEAN Intervention in Cambodia: From Cold War to Conditionality
Despite their other theoretical differences, virtually all scholars of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) agree that the organization's members share an almost religious commitment to the norm of non-intervention. This article disrupts this consensus, arguing that ASEAN repeatedly intervened in Cambodia's internal political conflicts from 1979 to 1999, often with powerful and destructive effects. ASEAN's role in maintaining Khmer Rouge occupancy of Cambodia's UN seat, constructing a new coalition government in exile, manipulating Khmer refugee camps and informing the content of the Cambodian peace process will be explored, before turning to the 'creeping conditionality' for ASEAN membership imposed after the 1997 'coup' in Phnom Penh. The article argues for an analysis recognizing the political nature of intervention, and seeks to explain both the creation of non-intervention norms and specific violations of them as attempts by ASEAN elites to maintain their own illiberal, capitalist regimes against domestic and international political threats. [the full version is available via my website, http://www.leejones.tk\]