Intervention and Change in Cambodia: Towards Democracy?

This book contributes to the ongoing debate on the complex transition in weak states from war to peace and from authoritarianism to liberal democracy. The analysis assesses the impact of foreign intervention on Cambodia’s state and societal structures during the period 1954–98. Three forms of intervention are discussed: competitive, cooperative, and co-optative. None of them contributed to the emergence of what is called a hurting balance of power -- a necessary, if not sufficient, condition for democratic compromise and maturation; none has the capacity to allow democratization to emerge and mature in the immediate term. While competitive intervention perpetuated hegemonic instability, cooperative and co-optative intervention seemed to lead the country in the direction of illiberal democracy, in which greater hegemonic stability exists and may persist for some time.