Explain and analyze conflict resolution process of the intractable conflict in Cambodia from 1979 to 1998
Created Time: November 21, 2021 3:51 PM Database: Evergreen Database Last Edited Time: November 24, 2021 3:42 PM Tags:#Essay,#Test Type: Permanent Notes
Explain and analyze conflict resolution process of the intractable conflict in Cambodia from 1979 to 1998
To outsiders, Cambodia is typically known for it’s horrific case of genocidal regime that killed millions of innocent people. However, after it ended in 1979, the country continued to struggle in foreign and well as domestic conflicts up until it’s second election in 1998. This essay will go on to first elaborate on various actors involved in this conflict-torn period, followed by discussions of the sources of these conflicts and how it came to an end. Furthermore, the essay will analyze the conflict regulation process conducted by the United Nations administered body in overseeing the Cambodian election, then discuss the Win-Win policy which famously ended the conflict in an unconventional manner. This paper will end by discussing the implications of this study and how durable peace could be achieved in Cambodia.
During the period right after the Khmer Rouge regime in 1979 to the second Cambodian election in 1998, there were numerous parties, actors, and groups who were involved in the conflicts. However, these groups are composed by the same leaders or figures again and again. The Khmer Rouge, officially known as Communist Party of Kampuchea (CPK), was in power until 1979. Right after Vietnam overthrew the CPK with the help of Kampuchean United Front for National Salvation (KUFNS) led by former Khmer Rouge generals Heng Samrin and Hun Sen. The Vietnamese established a government named the People’s Republic of Kampuchea (PRK), led by communists who were dissatisfied with the Khmer Rouge. Due to the tension created by the accumulating Vietnamese people in Cambodia to over a million people, it began to grow an anti-Vietnamese agenda. Therefore Son Sann, a neutral ex-prime minister, formed the Khmer People’s National Liberation Front (KPNLF) that was the internationally recognized government of Cambodia. On top of that, Norodom Sihanouk, populous king of Cambodia, had also formed the National United Front for an Independent, Neutral, Peaceful and Cooperative Cambodia (FUNCINPIC) that had the support of many Cambodians. These two groups along with the Khmer Rouge (CPK) formed a coalition in opposition to the Vietnamese backed PRK. This coalition group was formed in 1982 and was called the Coalition Government of Democratic Kampuchea (CGDK). It changed its name to the National Government of Cambodia (NGC) until it dissolved in 1993 (Thandjoenk, 2020). In 1989, the Paris Peace Accord was signed between the four parties in Cambodia. The three year process led to the Agreement on a Comprehensive Political Settlement of the Cambodia Conflict in 1991 that also mandated the United Nations Transitional Authority in Cambodia (UNTAC) to oversee a free and fair election in Cambodia. In the first Cambodian election oversaw by UNTAC, the contesting parties included the Cambodian People’s Party (CPP), a pro-Vietnamese and anti-Khmer Rouge party led by Hun Sen; FUNCINPIC, an anti-communist royalist party led by Sihanouk’s son Prince Norodom Ranariddh; and the Buddhist Liberal Democratic Party (BLDP), a religiously conservative, anti-communist, and formerly KPLNF led by Son Sann. The 1993 election was won by the royalist party FUNCINPIC. However, the CPP threatened to conduct a coup. Due to the CPP’s superiors military force, FUNCINPIC negotiated for a two prime ministers arrangement with Ranariddh as the first and Hun Sen as the Second as well as Sihanouk as the Monarch (Sushobhan Parida, 2020). In the second Cambodian election in 1998, the CPP won, which led to claims of fraudulence from the opposition which eventually led to another coalition government of FUNCINPIC and CPP with Hun Sen as the prime minister and Ranariddh as president of the National Assembly (ibid.).
In conflict resolution, conflicts in different scales can come from a variety of sources. However, for Cambodia’s case, the conflict started out being a zero-sum conflict between the Khmer Rouge and Vietnam, which accumulate antagonistic actions against one another until either one falters, in this case the Khmer Rouge. From then, the conflict turned into one between the domestic political parties, no matter their position, against the oppressing foreigner, Vietnam. For that reason, the Coalition Government of Democratic Kampuchea (CDGK) was formed as a coalition of the three Cambodian political parties from drastically opposite ends of ideological spectrum. The coalition was composed of the Neutral Royalist party FUNCINPIC by Sihanouk, the PDK of Khmer Rouge, and the KPNLF of Son Sann. It can be said that although the Khmer Rouge was in the Marxist-Leninist communism spectrum and the other two parties are non-communists, they were willing to work together to oppose an external threat of Vietnam. This went to create a relationship similar to the saying of “The enemy of my enemy is my friend”. After the full withdrawal of the Vietnamese occupation by 1989, the source of conflict turned to one of a domestic struggle for power over value incompatibilities between the familiar political parties of Cambodia over the issue of politics in elections instead (Jeong, 2010). The domestic conflicts in Cambodia led to a Paris Peace Accord that was signed between the Cambodian parties in 1989. The parties were able to come to a settlement due to the tenuous conflicts on-going for decades and the constant Foreign control conducted by Vietnam. China, as a funder of Khmer Rouge, pressured the group to join in the peace deal. More officially, the Comprehensive Settlement was signed with the goals of completing the writhdrawl of the remaining Vietnamese occupation, to prevent the return of the Khmer Rouge regime, and ensure the self-determination of the Cambodian People.
Under UNTAC, Cambodia started it’s first election in 1993. UNTAC took the approach of conflict regulation to limit the negative aspects of the conflict through verifying a cease-fire and supervise a disarmament while also endorsing the positive aspects of the conflict as well by organizing a free and fair election (Reuters, 1990). In the mandate, UNTAC was responsible for “any and all administrative agencies, bodies, and offices which could directly influence the outcome of elections” (Thandjoenk, 2020). What could be considered remarkable achievements which UNTAC accomplished are that it was able to organize and unite a divided country full of opposition ideologies to compete in a peaceful, official, free, and fair election in 1993. Furthermore, the UN arrange election gathered more eligible voters than ever expected, amounting to 4,267,192, about 89.56% of eligible voters in the population. This was possible due to the Information and Education component of UNTAC’s campaign to educate about democratic elections and the security ballot. Due to the hostility between the political parties in Cambodia at the time, the knowledge of one’s own voting choice could be dangerous, therefore the ‘secret ballot’ ensured their safety in the election. Moreover, although the following election in 1998 was not oversaw directly by UNTAC, the voter turnout climbed even more to 93.7% of all eligible voters in Cambodia due to it’s previous accomplishments (Sushobhan Parida, 2020). However, this does not mean that UNTAC’s operation went on without challenges. Democracy was the goal, but in each election, coups and outrage frequently occurred which both times ended in undemocratic governance arrangements. As a start, the Khmer Rouge boycotted the 1993 election, due to the ‘unfair environment’ of the election and wreaked havoc on UNTAC’s campaigns and operations of the election. The disarmament mandate that was promised in the settlement was conducted ineffectively leading to UN soldiers having defective weapons while who were unable to disarm Cambodian political parties themselves. After FUNCINPIC winning, the ineffective disarmament led to the CPP threatening a coup leading to the undemocratic 2 prime minister arrangement. During the 2 dual prime minister government after the 1993 election, the CPP’s Hun Sen, even as a second president, grew to be more influential than the first prime minister, Ranariddh. Forces loyal to either parties began attacking one another leading to deaths and Ranariddh fleeing to Thailand, leaving Hun Sen as a leader illegitimately (Sushobhan Parida, 2020).
Before the second election in 1998, Cambodia had accepted the PDK party of Khmer Rouge into the election and moved on to reintegrate it’s troops back into society in what is known as the Win-Win Policy. This had meant that the conflict was transformed by overlooking incompatible values and accumulating tension over decades. Although Khmer Rouge was responsible for a regime that took millions of lives not that long from then, it was thought that a concession in stance was needed to end the needlessly violent conflict and rebuild the country. A concession in conflict resolution is a decision that might be unsatisfactory or goes against their interest, but might also prevent consequences that otherwise would be worse off. In this case, reintegrating the genocidal Khmer Rouge would immediately stop conflict and restart a peaceful country. The long-run benefits will outbalance negatives brough on by the unsatisfactory offer (Jeong, 2010).
This study puts together the mind-numbingly numerous parties, groups, and individuals that were involved in Cambodia’s conflict after the Khmer Rouge regime. It analyzed the conflict in a more academic conflict regulation study rather than through simple divulging of facts and timelines in ways already done before. No matter how far Cambodia has come from those periods, however, the country’s current political system is far from perfect today. Recently, the supreme court dissolved the Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP) party of opposition to Hun Sen’s ruling party, CPP in 2017 (Prak Chan & Amy, 2017). Since then, the CPP has been acting as the only political party who is realistically holding on to power, even if elections are conducted in appropriate intervals. Still, this uncontested ruling of one party in Cambodia has allowed for some of the most peaceful periods in Cambodia’s modern history. However, stability does not necessarily mean positive and durable peace. According to the 8 pillars of positive peace, Cambodia’s current administrative political rule fails multiple criteria such as Free flow of information in its censorship activities, high level of corruption at both low and higher levels of politics, and the abuse of human rights. Furthermore, the lack of competing real political parties to represent peoples of different groups and the expression of political diversity could lead Cambodia to one day burst in the silent but oppressing rule of the CPP.
All in all, Cambodia had been in turmoil even after it’s horrifically grueling Khmer Rouge regime. The conflict involved Vietnam initially and the countless groups and parties led by reappearing characters throughout the decades without different acronymic names. The conflicts ended by unconventional means and its moderator UNTAC conducted an election to questionable success. However, this paper is only an overview of the period of conflict and did not dive into any of the complex events through the period.
References
Thandjoenk. (2020, June 13). Civil War: Cambodia (1970-1975 and 1979-1991). https://omnilogos.com/civil-war-cambodia-1970-1975-and-1979-1991/
Cambodia—Vietnamese Occupation—1979-1989. (n.d.). Retrieved November 21, 2021, from https://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/cambodia/history-vietnam.htm
Jeong, H.-W. (2010). Conflict management and resolution: An introduction. Routledge.
Sushobhan Parida. (2020). Case Analysis of the Cambodian Elections of 1993 and 1998. https://doi.org/10.13140/RG.2.2.16926.77125
WHKMLA : History of Cambodia, 1979-1993. (2002, May 18). https://www.zum.de/whkmla/region/seasia/camb19791993.html
Reuters. (1990, August 28). U.N. Plan on Cambodia Reported—The New York Times [News]. The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/1990/08/28/world/un-plan-on-cambodia-reported.html
Prak Chan, T., & Amy, S. L. (2017, November 16). Cambodia’s main opposition party dissolved by Supreme Court. Reuters. https://www.reuters.com/article/us-cambodia-politics-idUSKBN1DG1BO