Cambodia’sDevelopment Path

Costanza Landini

Development, Political Transition, and Stability

Lessons and Strategies for future studies on the Kingdom’s politics

Development, Political Transition, and Stability

Today’s topics

▪ I. Relevant lessons

▪ II. Key Strategies

I. Relevant lessons

- Clientelism: economic resources are channelled to groups of citizens, whose consensus is important for the party’s survival.

- Propaganda: limited freedom of local media.

- The legislative and judiciary systems represent a weapon of the CPP

Understand Cambodian history The CPP has a wide array of instruments to stay in power

International actors do play a role

After the dissolution of the CNRP

- The USA and the EU havewithdrawn the funding forelections at the end of July.

- Xi Jinping has recently declared hissupport of the Kingdom duringelections → diplomacy can actuallyinfluence the survival of a regime.

Khmer Rouge (1975-78)

- The Prime Minister Hun Sen servedas a Battalion Commander of theregime before becoming leader ofthe rebel army supported by theVietnamese.

- The regime violently eliminatedCambodian intellectuals andartists.

Development, Political Transition, and Stability

II. Key strategies

- Scratching the surface,underlying political and economicinterests emerge as the driver ofthe party’s actions to ensure itsstaying in power

Properly engage with locals Be extremely critical in interpreting CPP’s declarations and actions

How organisations should operate

- Any organisation engaged indevelopment and democratisationshould accept to operate withinthe existing political landscape.

- The French NGO Pour un sourired’enfant represents a goodexample.

- Strongly and openly opposing theCPP unfortunately ends inrepression.

- Researchers and activists should beaware of Cambodian history, toproperly engage with locals.

- From personal experience, theKhmer Rouge regime is a verydelicate topic.

- Most of Cambodians have lost atleast a member of their family atthat time.

Development, Political Transition, and Stability

• Unlike the optimistic name of this blog – Cambodia’sDevelopment Path – the monitoring of the Kingdom’s politicshas unfortunately pinpointed at the current politicalregression

• However, despite the brutal slide from electoralauthoritarianism to a one-party, personalistic regime, carryingout research and working on the field in Cambodia is stillpossible…but some strategies need to be adopted !

III. Conclusion

Development, Political Transition, and Stability

III. Conclusion

Development, Political Transition, and Stability

Thank you!