Table Of ContentPALGRAVE SERIES IN ASIA AND PACIFIC STUDIES
Strategies of
Authoritarian Survival
and Dissensus in
Southeast Asia
Weak Men Versus Strongmen
Sokphea Young
Palgrave Series in Asia and Pacific Studies
Series Editors
May Tan-Mullins, University of Nottingham, Ningbo,
Zhejiang, China
Adam Knee, Lasalle College of the Arts, Singapore
Filippo Gilardi, University of Nottingham Ningbo China,
Ningbo, China
The Asia and Pacific regions, with a population of nearly three billion
people, are of critical importance to global observers, academics, and
citizenry due to their rising influence in the global political economy
as well as traditional and nontraditional security issues. Any changes to
the domestic and regional political, social, economic, and environmental
systems will inevitably have great impacts on global security and gover-
nancestructures.Atthesametime,AsiaandthePacifichavealsoemerged
as a globally influential, trend-setting force in a range of cultural arenas.
The remit of this book series is broadly defined, in terms of topics and
academic disciplines. We invite research monographs on a wide range
of topics focused on Asia and the Pacific. In addition, the series is also
interestedinmanuscriptspertainingtopedagogiesandresearchmethods,
for both undergraduate and postgraduate levels. Published by Palgrave
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UNNC.
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Sokphea Young
Strategies
of Authoritarian
Survival and Dissensus
in Southeast Asia
Weak Men Versus Strongmen
Sokphea Young
University College London
London, UK
ISSN 2662-7922 ISSN 2662-7930 (electronic)
Palgrave Series in Asia and Pacific Studies
ISBN 978-981-33-6111-9 ISBN 978-981-33-6112-6 (eBook)
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-33-6112-6
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In loving memory of my deceased grandparents:
ta Roeun, killed by a landmine when I was eight years old;
kong Sour, who passed away when I was in secondary school;
yeay Voeung, who passed away while I was studying my PhD; and,
ma Live, who passed away when my father was three years old.
Acknowledgements
The sojourn to this book began in 2012, in Australia, when I started my
academic research as a PhD student in the School of Social and Polit-
ical Sciences at the University of Melbourne. I had, for some time, felt
the need to delve deeper into the reasons behind the adverse impacts of
large-scaleinvestments,notonlyinCambodia,butalsoacrosstheSouth-
eastAsianregion.Mytrainingasadevelopmentpractitionerandmywork,
for more than fifteen years, in private companies, international develop-
ment agencies and international financial institutions had led me to this
point. Thus, I began exploring the political economy and institutions
underpinning regime survival and grassroots resistance in the Southeast
Asian region. With a desire to make a scholarly contribution, I wrote
this book while conducting postdoctoral research on these issues and
teaching various related subjects in Southeast Asian Studies in universi-
tiesintheUK.Manypeopleandinstitutionsmadethepublicationofthis
book possible, and I owe lasting gratitude to them for their support and
assistance.
The research that constitutes this book is the result of support from
fieldworkandresearchgrants,fellowships,andscholarshipsofferedbythe
University of Melbourne. These grants allowed me to conduct visiting
research, for example, to the Asia Research Institute at the National
UniversityofSingapore,andtoattendandpresentsectionsofthisbookat
severalinternationalconferences.Iwouldliketoextendmysincerethanks
andappreciationtoDr.KateMacdonald(UniversityofMelbourne),who
vii
viii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
initiallymentoredmyresearchforthisbook,andProfessorAndrewWalter
(UniversityofMelbourne),whojointlyofferedconstructivecommentsto
improve the quality of the research, providing, in particular, very valu-
able economic and financial perspectives on regime durability. I thank
Professor Ora-orn Poocharoen and Chiang Mai University School of
Public Policy for the financial support for the follow-up fieldwork, and
Professor May Tan-Mullins for her initial guidance.
This book was finalised while I was pursuing my early career research
position at the University College London (UK), under the Euro-
pean Research Council-funded project entitled ‘Citizens of photography:
The camera and the political imagination’ (PhotoDemos: 695283). The
support of my PhotoDemos colleagues and the generosity of the Euro-
pean Research Council have benefitted this, my first book, and have
allowed me to continue researching and to embark on writing a second
book about social media, visual activism, and political emancipation in
Cambodia. I would like to express my sincere thanks to the principal
investigator, Professor Christopher Pinney, for his kindness, and his valu-
able advice and mentoring during this period. Thanks must also go to
myPhotoDemoscolleagues,Dr.KonstantinosKalantzis,Dr.Naluwembe
Binaisa,Dr.IleanaSelejanandDr.VindhyaButhpitiya,fortheirverybene-
ficial interactive discussions on the Cambodian case studies and wider
content of both this book and the one being written.
This book also received valuable comments from scholars of polit-
ical studies focusing on Cambodia and Southeast Asia. I thank Dr. Pak
Kimchoeun, Dr. So Sokbuthoeun, Dr. Michael Dwyer and Dr. Patrick
Schröder,fortheirtimediscussingmyresearch,aswellastheanonymous
reviewers who provided feedback on this book. I also wish to extend my
thanks to friends: Dr. Bunlong Leng, Dr. Monyrath Nuth, Dr. Chivoin
Peou, for sharing their research experience and interacting with me on
several occasions. I thank Professor Michael Ford (University of Sydney,
Australia), Professor Meredith L. Weiss (University at Albany, SUNY),
Dr. George Towar Ikbal Tawakkal (Brawijaya University, Indonesia), Dr.
FadillahPutra(BrawijayaUniversity,Indonesia)andDr.YingHooiKhoo
(University of Malaya, Malaysia) for their valuable comments on chapters
concerning Indonesia and Malaysia, respectively. My interactive discus-
sionsonforeignandChineseinvestmentinCambodiaandtheregionwith
Ms. Molly Bodurtha (U.S. Fulbright Student), and Professor Matthew
ErieattheUniversityofOxford’sChinaCentre,whereIserveasanaffil-
iated Research Associate, also made valuable contributions to this book.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ix
On different occasions, my interactions with Dr. Kheang Un (Northern
Illinois University, USA), Dr. Sophal Ear (Occidental College, USA) and
Professor Soporng Peou (Ryerson University, Canada) provided inspira-
tion for the development of this book, and I thank them for their advice.
Myaccountswithundergraduateandpost-graduatestudentsfromSouth-
east Asia, and other parts of the world, who attended my courses at
the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, also
provided me with valuable avenues of thinking relating to this publica-
tion. Special thanks are given to my very generous editor, Mrs. Ruth
Fluhr,whonotonlyproofreadthebook,butalsoprovidedinsightfuland
constructive comments to make this book readable for both an academic
and non-academic audience.
The research that constitutes this book might not have been possible
without the participation of my many interlocutors, comprising individ-
uals from government offices; private companies; international develop-
ment agencies and donors; non-governmental organisations; groups of
victims, community activists or friends. Our conversations yielded much
rich material for this book, and I am grateful to them all for giving their
valuable time to share their thoughts, evidence and information with me.
As a founder of the ‘Cambodian Scholars’ network—a virtual network
that aims at nurturing young Cambodian scholars—I would also like to
thank all members of the network who supported and participated in
the discussion on relevant topics that have been helpful for this book,
including freedom of academic and scholarly research and writing; civil
society; political regimes; and political developments in Cambodia and
Southeast Asia. I hope that this book serves, not only as a product of
our interaction, but also as a scholarly piece that foregrounds scholar-
ship relating to Cambodia, a research area under-represented globally in
studies on Southeast Asia.
Ms. Seakhy Lay, for too long my distant, patient fiancée and now my
lovelywife,deservesmygratefullove.Iamsothankfulandsoveryhappy
to have you with me, at last by my side. The completion of this book
owesmuchtoyourunwaveringsupportthroughoutourjourneytogether,
never truly apart, from 2012 until now. It is a gift to us both. I also wish
to extend my gratitude to my brothers, sisters and parents. This book
has been inspired at all stages by the long-standing dream of my father,
Peak Young (a primary school teacher), to see his children reach the
highestlevelsofacademicstudy,andmaybeevenwritebooks!Mybeloved
mother, Roeun Eap, who does not read or write even our native Khmer
x ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
language, raised me to what I am today, and I thank her indeed. Thanks
tomybrothers,PheakandBunhean,andtomypoorsisters,Mony,Bopha
andKhanha,who,duetoourfamily’scircumstances,gaveuptheirfurther
education for the sake of their brothers’ higher education. They deserve
my very sincere thanks and gratitude. Their children, my nephews and
nieces,deservemysupportinthesamewaytheirmothershavesupported
me.
