Cambodia: Change and Continuity in Contemporary Politics

FROM THE PUBLISHER

This edited volume is unique in that it offers a comprehensive view of controversial issues regarding Cambodia's past, present and possible future development. It provides a selection of 25 journal articles about the war-torn country, which examines five most critical issues concerning change and continuity in contemporary Cambodian politics. The books 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 five themes should be instructive to interested individuals, scholars and policy makers dealing with what has been termed the "triple transition". The transitions are from armed conflict to 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.

SYNOPSIS

Collects 25 articles (previously published over the course of the 1990s in academic journals) looking at the political, social, and economic prospects for Cambodia as it painfully transitions from a state of continual warfare to one of (perhaps) peace. Peou (Sophia U., Japan) has selected the articles with the purpose of representing a range of perspectives on the conflict-torn country and has therefore included articles that he judged were not necessarily as "analytically sound" as others. The articles are organized under the headings of war and peace, violence, the Constitution, human rights, democratic development, gender and ethnic relations, and economic development.