International Democracy Assistance for Peacebuilding The Cambodian Experience

by Peou, Sorpong

• ISBN13: 9780230521377
• ISBN10: 0230521371
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2007-11-15
• Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan

Summary

This book seeks to explain why international donors may succeed in putting war-torn countries on the path of democratic transition and negative peace, but fail to consolidate the gains they make. Cambodia provides an excellent example for international peace builders: the donor community spent billions of dollars rebuilding the country between 1992 and 2006, but democracy remains unconsolidated and may even be receding towards "electoral dictatorship." Critical of neo-institutionalism, but sympathetic to historical and normative institutionalism, this book advances a theory called "complex realist institutionalism" to explain the limits of international democracy assistance to post-war societies.

Author Biography

SORPONG PEOU is Professor of International Security at Sophia University, Japan. He has written on Cambodian politics, international peacekeeping, peacebuilding, and regional security in Pacific Asia.

Table of Contents

Preface and Acknowledgements	p. viii
Introduction	p. 1
The Analytical Framework	p. 7
Democratic Regime Consolidation and International Democracy Assistance	p. 9
Institutional Structure and Structural Challenges	p. 21
Research Methodology: Cambodia as Case Study	p. 33
Power vs. Democratic Consolidation	p. 47
Electoral Procedural Rules under Constraint	p. 49
"Liberal Norms under Stress	p. 61
Liberty under Pressure	p. 73
The Limits of Institutionalization	p. 85
State Institutions' Underdevelopment	p. 87
Political Society's Underdevelopment	p. 100
Civil Society's Underdevelopment	p. 112
Structural Challenges to Institutionalization	p. 125
Non-material Constraints	p. 127
Economic Impediments	p. 139
Political Impediments	p. 151
The Limits of Democracy Assistance	p. 165
Limits of Assistance for Institution Building	p. 167
Limits of Economic Assistance	p. 180
Limits of Political Assistance	p. 193
Conclusion: Toward Complex Realist Institutionalism	p. 207
Notes	p. 216
Selected Bibliography	p. 236
Index	p. 253
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