Cambodia’s velvet glove frays
Hun Sen (left), Cambodia’s longtime strongman, faces local elections next year and a national contest in 2018. On his recent provincial swing he pressed flesh, announced local infrastructure projects as… Read more »
Category: Cambodia
Cambodia’s Democratic Transition Has Collapsed, With Dangerous Consequences
As Cambodia prepares for national elections in two years, its politics have veered dangerously out of control, notes Council on Foreign Relations analyst Joshua Kurlantzick. Even though young Cambodians are… Read more »
North Korean workers protest
….. in Kuwait. North Korea has summoned dozens of workers from the Gulf state for staging a mass strike in protest at their working conditions, reports suggest: According to Radio Free Asia,… Read more »
Cambodia’s democracy ‘in retreat’?
The Cambodian government should ask the United Nations to help it carry out a full and independent investigation into the October 26, 2015 attack on two opposition members of… Read more »
Cambodia: ‘old-style politics in a new society’
For 30 years, Prime Minister Hun Sen, a former Khmer Rouge fighter, has wielded power through a combination of threats, clever deal-making and sheer willpower. And for most of that… Read more »
Why host ‘unseemly parade’ of Asian dictators?
The upcoming US-ASEAN summit will include leaders – like Hun Sen, who has ruled Cambodia for 25 years – who were previously considered too ruthless and repressive to be received… Read more »
Asia’s democratic regression fuels rise of Islamist militants
Today, few people are touting democracy in Southeast Asia as an example of political freedoms, notes Council on Foreign Relations analyst Joshua Kurlantzick. In Myanmar, Thailand, Malaysia, Cambodia, and… Read more »
Democracy’s continuing struggles
After the end of the Cold War, experts who closely studied trends in democratization believed that democracy was destined to sweep the globe. But predictions of democratic triumph did… Read more »
Cambodia’s long-ruling PM gears up for distant poll
Cambodia won’t hold a general election for another two years. But look at Prime Minister Hun Sen (left), its long-ruling and mercurial strongman, and you’d think one was imminent, Reuters… Read more »
Why has ‘pivot’ to Asia had underwhelming results?
Throughout much of the 1990s and the early 2000s, Southeast Asia was one of the brightest spots for democracy globally. Since the late 2000s, however, the region’s democratization has stalled;… Read more »