Cambodia After the Khmer Rouge: Inside the Politics of Nation Building [Hardcover]

Mr. Evan R. Gottesman (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 1, 2002

This work tells of the events and personalities that shaped Cambodian history during the 13-year period between the overthrow of the Khmer Rouge regime in 1979 and the signing of the 1991 peace accords that resulted in UN-administered elections. It offers a nuanced understanding of complex questions concerning human rights, economic reconstruction, institutional development and national sovereignty, issues that were framed by the legacy of the Khmer Rouge and by a Vietnamese occupation. Drawing on a range of sources, including more than 1300 internal government and party documents, Evan Gottesman describes how a handful of former Khmer Rouge soldiers and officials, Vietnamese-trained revolutionary cadres and surviving intellectuals fought over power and policy. Gottesman discusses the regime's approach toward the Khmer Rouge, the relationship between the Cambodians and the Vietnamese, the treatment of the ethnic Chinese, and the tension between patronage politics and communist ideology. He tracks the careers of Cambodian leaders and their roles in determining the direction of the country and describes how Hun Sen, the prime minister, rose to power in the 1980s. Gottesman concludes by explaining how the legacy of this period has influenced events in Cambodia up to the time of this work's publication.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"A painstaking look, both sober and sobering, at the slow rebuilding process and the old hatreds that impede it." -- George Fetherling, Vancouver Sun

[Gottesman’s] book is a wonderful book, the best yet, at the struggles of nation building and the toll it takes. -- (Alan Dawson, Outlook)

About the Author

Evan Gottesman spent three years in Cambodia, where he served as resident liaison and deputy director of the American Bar Association Cambodia Law and Democracy Project.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 448 pages
• Publisher: Yale University Press (November 1, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0300089570
• ISBN-13: 978-0300089578
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.9 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.7 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,444,174 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliant, both in terms of research and insight., December 30, 2002

By 

R. ARANT "Toun" (Lanesville, Indiana USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Cambodia After the Khmer Rouge: Inside the Politics of Nation Building (Hardcover)

Evan Gottesman's three years of field work in Cambodia with the American Bar Association Law and Democracy Project gave him an exceptionally solid base from which he launched this study of the history of the PRK and SOC regimes. His use of documents dug out of the National Archives is, as David Chandler has remarked, "masterful." His interviews with the former holders of power provide fascinating insights into the minds of key personalities seldom reached by Westerners. The epilogue is chock full of understated, reasonable, fair, and on-the-mark assessments of the reality on the ground in Cambodia today -- "Cambodian democracy often seems an abstraction...Although the methods of control have changed, the personnel governing the country remain largely the same ... (they) have accepted a new level of political discourse, but they do so only to the extent that it does not jeopardize their power." Life and work in Cambodia as a lawyer would frustrate all but the most idealistic of men. That Mr. Gottesman came away with such a patient and objective look at Cambodia says much about both his character and his intellect. This book is a must read for our new generation of "nation builders." It will allow them to bring to bear a better sense of time scale regarding their grand plans to democratize the world, clearly a task for multiple generations of good men like Evan Gottesman, not one to be attempted by one or two four-year administrations of ambitious politicians.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Superb History of the People's Republic of Kampuchea, May 28, 2003

By 

H. Campbell (houston, texas) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Cambodia After the Khmer Rouge: Inside the Politics of Nation Building (Hardcover)

This is a fascinating telling of the politics of the PRK. The author has adroitly woven a tapestry of the give and take between the ideologically rigid Vietnamese liberators and the ideologically-opportunistic Khmer Rouge. The irony of the title is that there was no "after the Khmer Rouge:" indeed, they are still alive and well and running the PRK's successor state, which could be called the Democratic People's Republic of Royal Camobodia, an amalgam of ex-Pol Potists, Sihounoukists and genuine deomocrats.
Gottesman is to be congratulated on his shrewd observations and the skillful way he merged the ever-morphing political landscape in Phnom Penh with the relatively static, self-serving and corrupt provinical politics that tended to ignore any central dictums that reduced local prerogatives. In sum, pretty much the story of all socialist states; proclaim endless drivel ex cathedra from the capital and pray that somebody out there listens.
This is a must read for anyone interested in a little known asterisk in the cold war and anyone interested in third world politics. Foe all American ideologues eager to proclaim Iraq the next Japan, read, learn and repent!

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent!, June 17, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Cambodia After the Khmer Rouge: Inside the Politics of Nation Building (Hardcover)

Mr. Gottesman paints a vivid picture of Cambodia after 1979 that is particularly relevant in this time of reconstruction and nation building in Iraq. This is on my all time top 10 books right after the Girl's Guide to Hunting and Fishing.