Enhancing the redistributive capacity of the Chinese state? Impact of fiscal reforms on county finance

This article seeks to test the degree to which ASEAN has been able to develop a security identity based on its collectively held norms. The article begins by isolating two norms that are central to ASEAN, namely non-intervention in the internal affairs of sovereign states and non-use of force. The article then seeks to determine how consistently these norms have been upheld within ASEAN by analysing the policies of member states during two major crises where these norms were threatened: the 1979 Vietnamese invasion of Cambodia (Kampuchea) and the 1995 Chinese occupation of Mischief Reef. If member states pursued policies which upheld the norms in question (even where alternative unilateral policies may have been more beneficial to them), then this would suggest such a security identity existed. On the other hand, should unilateral interests take precedence over the will to uphold these collective norms, questions must be raised over the strength of ASEAN'60 Col No: 189;s security identity, both then and now.     

The coloniality of abridgment: afterlives of mass violence in Cambodia and the US

Abstract

This article examines processes of knowledge production around mass violence in 1970s Cambodia including media reportage and coeval scholarly debate, developing a conceptualisation of colonial abridgment. It assesses operations by which Cambodia as a country is violently essentialised, the occurrence of mass violence taking on metonymic grandeur that works to deny imperial legacies, entomb modern Cambodia in a hermetically sealed past and thereby maintain global order within existing racial-colonial logics.     

中国企业在柬埔寨的投资及其影响

近年来,中国企业在柬埔寨不断增长的投资引发了许多关注和有意义的讨论,但是大多数讨论缺乏足够的事实材料,因为研究者很难接触到中国企业来收集足够和可靠的信息。本文根据三个月对大约20家在柬埔寨中国公司的深入访谈,试图提供中国企业在柬埔寨投资及其影响的更全面的图景。本文考察了中国企业在柬埔寨投资的规模和对当地经济和社会的影响。本文认为,不论是中国企业在柬埔寨投资的规模还是对当地的影响都被夸大了。     

A Review of: “Jarret M. Brachman. Global Jihadism: Theory and Practice.”

ABSTRACT

The genocide perpetrated by the Khmer Rouge between 1975 and 1979 appears as one of the most totalitarian manifestations of political violence in the 20th century. This article explores the ideological framework constructed by the Khmer Rouge, and looks into whether and how this influences and motivates individual low-level cadres in their participation. Our findings show that toxification as a genocidal ideology was present in the Khmer Rouge discourse, and provided a lens of legitimacy for individuals to engage in acts of violence. But such a genocidal ideology was not a motivating factor for individual perpetrators in the Cambodian genocide. This research forwards the comparative investigation of the Khmer Rouge genocide in Cambodia as an important case of genocide, both at the societal and individual levels, as well as the general study of toxification as a genocidal ideology.     

导致1963年柬埔寨王国拒绝美援的诸因素分析

1963年柬埔寨王国拒绝美援是1965年柬埔寨与美国断交的前奏,它连同柬埔寨与美国断交一起对冷战时期东南亚地区的历史产生了重要的影响。柬埔寨在1963年拒绝美援是邻国因素、美国因素、中国因素和柬埔寨自身因素等要素合力的结果。对影响1963年柬埔寨王国拒绝美援的诸因素的分析将有助于我们较好地理解亚洲冷战的复杂性,更好地理解制约美国亚洲冷战战略得以有效实施的因素。     

Development and legitimacy of Chinese informal finance

Abstract

Cambodia is facing the familiar problem of achieving sustained rates of economic growth that could help it alleviate widespread poverty. Against the background of some encouraging developments, and quite a few that are not equally reassuring, we argue that any push for development needs to consider both agriculture and industry. This is so as both labour absorption, primarily in secondary sector activities, and productivity growth in agriculture are necessary to lift large segments of the population out of the poverty associated with subsistence agriculture, landlessness and informal sector activities. Given that the major success story of the past decade – the garment and textile industry – is under threat, we conclude that Cambodia is yet to achieve an economic take-off.     

东盟安全机制的有效性与局限性

东南亚地区具有重要的地缘战略地位,向来是大国政治和军事角逐的焦点地区。东南亚国家为了保障该地区的和平与稳定,在长期的实践过程中形成了其独特的安全机制"东盟方式",这一模式在稳定地区安全事务中发挥了重要的作用。1978 年东盟在解决柬埔寨问题中作出了积极的贡献,展现出东盟安全机制的有效性;但在 2008 年 7 月以来柬埔寨和泰国发生的边境争端中作为不大,则反映出东盟安全机制的局限性。"东盟方式"在这两次重大事件中发挥的作用截然不同,正反映出东盟安全机制的有效性与局限性。     

At the Roots of Labour Activism: Chinese and Cambodian Garment Workers in Comparative Perspective

ABSTRACT

In China extensive, co-ordinated strikes such as those that have taken place in Cambodia in recent years remain rare, with most protests initiated by Chinese workers contained inside single factories or industrial zones. Also, while Cambodian workers often mobilise for their interests and broader policy issues, such as the determination of the minimum wage, Chinese workers largely limit themselves to protests against violations of their legal rights. How can these different patterns of labour activism be explained? Through factory gate surveys and interviews conducted during the summer of 2016 in a sample of Hong Kong-owned garment factories in Dongguan and Phnom Penh, this study provides a comparative analysis of the root causes of labour activism in China and Cambodia. In particular, the article focuses on three elements that play an important role in determining labour activism: the expectations of the workers regarding wages; the workers’ perception of the labour law and the legal system; and trade union pluralism.     

Coming of age in peace,prosperity, and connectivity: Cambodia’s young electorate and its impact on the ruling party’s political strategies

Cambodia’s youthful population is significantly responsible for a recent unexpected decline in the popularity of the Cambodian People’s Party, which has governed since the end of the Khmer Rouge regime. This increasingly young electorate has lived through an era of peace and openness with regular multi-party elections and impressive economic growth resulting in rapid structural change in the economy. Compared to their parents’ generation, this younger generation is better educated, highly mobile, aspires to salaried employment, and is well connected to new sources of information and technology. Because of this, their expectations, aspirations, opportunities, as well as challenges they face are remarkably different from those of older generations. However, Cambodia’s institutions of governance, dominated by personalized and patron–client networks that have been propped up by the ruling elite, has effectively marginalized this emerging youth population. This marginalization from political and economic resources has produced alienation and discontent, which represents a significant political problem for the ruling party’s political strategies.     

Non-government Organizations,Villagers, Political Culture and the Lower Sesan 2 Dam in Northeastern Cambodia

The Lower Sesan 2 (LS2) Hydropower Project in northeastern Cambodia is presently under construction. As the largest dam to ever be built in Cambodia, it is expected to cause serious and widespread environmental and social impacts. This article analyzes, on the one hand, the relationships between Cambodian non-government organizations (NGOs) and villagers who will be negatively impacted by LS2, and on the other, NGO relations with the Cambodian state. While development actors frequently attempt to construct particular narratives in order to control development trajectories, this research demonstrates that such attempts can meet with serious resistance from local people, even when facing powerful opponents, including in this case NGOs that prefer to advocate for better resettlement and compensation conditions rather than for the cancellation of projects. Focusing on interactions, positioning, local agency, and the particular political culture of Cambodia, this article highlights the importance of particular types of patronage relations in Cambodia between NGOs and villagers, NGOs and the state, and associated territorialization.