Cambodia's recent history is one of breathtaking tragedy; by comparison its immediate future looks small and venal. Today Cambodia resembles many of the striving, corrupt, developing nations trying to make up for time lost behind the Iron Curtain. Something other than this was expected. The nation that bore the horrors of the Khmer Rouge seemed ready for a kinder if not a more prosperous transformation. This is the country that fought one of the most savage civil conflicts spawned by the Cold War and barely survived two consecutive Communist regimes (the second imposed by neighbouring Vietnam), before becoming the beneficiary of the most ambitious peacekeeping mission ever attempted by the United Nations.

LRB 9 February 1995 | PDF Download