Violent Neoliberalism: Development, Discourse, and Dispossession in Cambodia

224 Pages·2015·3.88 MB·English

by  Simon Springer (auth.)

Violent Neoliberalism
TTThhhiiisss pppaaagggeee iiinnnttteeennntttiiiooonnnaaallllllyyy llleeefffttt bbblllaaannnkkk
Violent Neoliberalism
Development, Discourse, and Dispossession
in Cambodia
Simon Springer
VIOLENT NEOLIBERALISM
Copyright © Simon Springer, 2015.
Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2015 978-1-137-48532-8
All rights reserved.
First published in 2015 by
PALGRAVE MACMILLAN®
in the United States—a division of St. Martin’s Press LLC,
175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010.
Where this book is distributed in the UK, Europe and the rest of the world,
this is by Palgrave Macmillan, a division of Macmillan Publishers Limited,
registered in England, company number 785998, of Houndmills,
Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS.
Palgrave Macmillan is the global academic imprint of the above companies
and has companies and representatives throughout the world.
Palgrave® and Macmillan® are registered trademarks in the United States,
the United Kingdom, Europe and other countries.
ISBN 978-1-349-50363-6 ISBN 978-1-137-48533-5 (eBook)
DOI 10.1057/9781137485335
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Springer, Simon.
Violent neoliberalism : development, discourse and dispossession in
Cambodia / Simon Springer.
pages cm
Includes bibliographical references and index.
1. Neoliberalism—Cambodia. 2. Democracy—Cambodia.
3. Political violence—Cambodia. 4. Economic development—Cambodia.
5. Social conflict—Cambodia. 6. Cambodia—Politics and government.
7. Cambodia—Social conditions. 8. Cambodia—Economic conditions.
I. Title.
JC574.2.C16.S67 2015
320.9596—dc23 2014036742
A catalogue record of the book is available from the British Library.
Design by Newgen Knowledge Works (P) Ltd., Chennai, India.
First edition: March 2015
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Special Permissions
Permissions were kindly granted for the following: Chapter two, revised
here, was previously published as Springer, S. 2011. Articulated neoliberal-
ism: the specificity of patronage, kleptocracy, and violence in Cambodia’s
neoliberalization. Environment and Planning A 43(11): 2554–2570, cour-
tesy of Pion Ltd., London, www.pion.co.uk and www.envplan.com.
Chapter three previously appeared in a slightly different form as Springer,
S. 2009. Culture of violence or violent Orientalism? Neoliberalisation and
imagining the “savage other” in post-transitional Cambodia. Transactions
of the Institute of British Geographers 34(3): 305–319, courtesy of Wiley-
Blackwell Publishers. Chapter four presents a revised version of the previ-
ously published Springer, S. 2010. Neoliberal discursive formations: on
the contours of subjectivation, good governance, and symbolic violence
in posttransitional Cambodia. Environment and Planning D: Society and
Space 28(5): 931–950, courtesy of Pion Ltd., London, www.pion.co.uk
and www.envplan.com. A revised version of Springer, S. 2013. Violent
accumulation: a postanarchist critique of property, dispossession, and the
state of exception in neoliberalizing Cambodia. Annals of the Association
of American Geographers 103(3): 608–626, courtesy of Taylor and Francis
Group, http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/00045608.2011.62
8259 appears here as chapter five. An earlier version of chapter six appeared
previously as Springer, S. 2013. Illegal evictions? Overwriting possession
and orality with law’s violence in Cambodia. Journal of Agrarian Change
13(4): 520–546, courtesy of Wiley-Blackwell Publishers. The introduc-
tion and conclusion also reproduce parts of the previously published
Springer, S. 2012. Neoliberalising violence: of the exceptional and the
exemplary in coalescing moments. Area 44(2): 136–143. Finally, Ayako
Kagawa, Geographic Information Officer in the Cartographic Section at
the United Nations, kindly granted permission to reproduce the following
map: Cambodia, no.3860 Rev. January 4, 2004.
TTThhhiiisss pppaaagggeee iiinnnttteeennntttiiiooonnnaaallllllyyy llleeefffttt bbblllaaannnkkk
For my Dad,
You taught me that the embers of contemplation burn longer
than the inferno of rage.
TTThhhiiisss pppaaagggeee iiinnnttteeennntttiiiooonnnaaallllllyyy llleeefffttt bbblllaaannnkkk
Contents
List of Illustrations xi
Acknowledgments xiii
Introduction—Sic Transit Gloria Mundi: There’s Something
Rotten in the State of Cambodia 1
Part I Development
One Violent Politics: Authority, Terror, and the New Devaraja 23
Two Violent Kleptocracy: The Articulations of Neoliberalism
and Patronage 41
Part II Discourse
Three Violent Orientalism: Imagining the “Savage Other” 61
Four Violent Symbolism: Good Governance and the Making
of Neoliberal Subjects 81
Part III Dispossession
Five Violent Accumulation: The Trilateral of Logics and the
Creation of Property 107
Six Violent Evictions: Oral Possession and Legal
Transgression 135
Conclusion—Memento Mori: The Mortality of Neoliberalism 167
Notes 177
Bibliography 181
Index 209