GIGW-C13: Cambodia Before The Killing Fields §

Class: IS402 Created Time: December 29, 2021 2:09 PM Database: Class Notes Database Last Edited Time: March 20, 2022 10:57 PM Provided Materials: Cambodia__Before_the_Killing_Fields.pdf

• Independence to civil war in Cambodia
• Lon Nol overthrow Sihanouk due to his increasingly incompetent rule
• 1979’s end of Khmer Rouge as year 0 country

From Independence to Civil War §

• Sihanouk stepped down from monarchy after his father’s death
  • Sihanouk’s mother as ceremonial monarch
  • Sihanouk became a politician

The Assembly Election §

• Sihanouk stopped ties with US
  • Expecting China or Vietnam to take the role, but didn’t happen
• Leading to more Right influence in the country
• Alliance with North Vietnam (no other choice)
  • Vietnamese troops stationed in Cambodia
  • Vietnam won’t invade Cambodia or kill it’s people when the war ends

Sihanouk’s Policies §

• Sihanouk represented the ‘father of Cambodia’
  • treated his people like his children
• Sihanouk’s Foreign Policy is better than his Domestic Policy
  • FP: alliance with Vietnam, neutrality…
  • DP: not listening to advice for economy…

Opposition to Sihanouk §

• Sihanouk considered himself too popular to allow Cambodia to have any dissent (opposition)
  • Both Pracheachon and Khmer Serei Democrats were too weak to challenge him
• Oppression actions
  • Sihanouk’s Political assassination of oppositions
• Pracheachon’s leaders held communism and taught their ideology to Camboodians

Sihanouk’s Rule: A Balance Sheet §

• Domestic policy Mixed Bag
  • Good
    • his Buddhist Socialism made 20% of country’s income into education
    • He went to rural areas to connect with the people, making him popular
  • Bad
    • High school educated young adults couldn’t find jobs ⇒ joined communist
    • He didn’t have much time actually making decisions, instead just meeting his people
    • Sihanouk taught his people about political fairness, that backfired him
    • Political assasinations
    • Insistence on deciding things he’s not an expert at
    • When pressure built, Sihanouk had less interest in ruling

Sihanouk’s Decline §

• Break of US military aid program
• Gain control of economy to cripple Chinese business elites in Phnom Penh
  • 1/4 Cambodia’s rice harvest smuggled into Vietnam as Cambodia’s government can’t match their price

The Coup of 1970 §

• Lon Nol