Introduction to Contemporary Cambodia

"Following this general introduction we first focus our attention towards examining Political and Economic Tensions, where we set the stage for understanding many of the major recentdevelopments that have shaped the political economy of contemporary Cambodia. A chapter called “The Contemporary Geopolitics of Cambodia: Alignments in Regional and GlobalContexts” by Sok Udom Deth, Kairat Moldashev and Serkan Bulut is our starting point, where the authors trace the key geopolitical trends that have shaped the country’s position in the world. While they offer a brief historical overview that reaches back to the 18th century and covers the twists and turns that came with French colonization, independence and the war in Vietnam, their primary concern is for more recent events, such as the accession into ASEAN in 1999 and theWTO in 2004 as examples of deepening integration into regional and global forms of capitalism. In particular, they discuss the implications of China’s rising influence and the implications Cambodia faces with the purported US pivot back towards Southeast Asia."