After the 2018 Cambodian national elections, there was much ‘Western’ media attention on the death of democracy in the small Southeast Asian nation. Here’s one exemplar piece entitled “Democracy bites the dust in Cambodia but glimmers of hope remain.” I agree that democracy as an ethos is not alive and well in Cambodia. However, the very assumption that it once was alive is problematic. Reading through the myriad op-eds and reporting, I felt historical complexity was absent (an exception being this piece). I decided to add my two-cents in a new piece published in The Diplomat. My takeaway:

Hun Sen’s electoral victory in 2018 is, therefore, more a return to the historical norm of centralized power in Cambodia than a sign of democracy’s end. Democracy has always been defined in Cambodia as nothing more than multi-party elections, just as the United Nations originally intended. (link)