Explore the vast range of titles available.

Following Heonik Kwon, this article explores the social and cultural underpinnings of the Cold War (and Cambodia’s stance of neutrality in relation to it) as illustrated through the life of a colorful Cambodian monk, Dharmawara Mahathera. Long resident in India, Dharmawara became a confidant of Norodom Sihanouk as the latter negotiated independence and Cambodia’s new geopolitical realities. Dharmawara was one point of connection between Sihanouk and India at the time Sihanouk was drawn to a position of neutrality and to the Non-Aligned Movement associated with Jawaharlal Nehru and Zhou Enlai, and his story illuminates some of the cultural interface underlying the politics. He would assume a profile in emerging institutions of international Buddhism, such as the World Fellowship of Buddhists, which in their own way related to developing geopolitics. He subsequently attracted the attention of American diplomats in Cambodia in ways that illustrate something of how the Cold War came to be negotiated on the ground. His tensions with the Cambodian monastic hierarchy help us better understand the latter’s role at a historical conjuncture. I argue that Dharmawara helps us understand Sihanouk’s emerging philosophy of “Buddhist socialism.”

The history of wildlife conservation in Cambodia in the twentieth century reveals the tensions that existed between the Khmer kingdom and international nature conservation networks, colonial or global. Wildlife conservation in Cambodia was not a priority for the French colonial administration. It only regulated hunting. While the global conservation movement was expanding via international conferences, local French administrators managed to obstruct the implementation of a conservation policy. After the Second World War, Western scientists and activists sought to establish reserves, particularly to protect a new species of wild cattle, the kouprey. The International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN), through the notable efforts of Harold Coolidge, succeeded in convincing Prince Sihanouk to adopt such a policy in the 1960s. However, although 12 per cent of the kingdom's land was protected, funding and means for conservation remained largely inadequate. The war put an end to all conservation programmes. The IUCN renewed its efforts in the 1980s successfully establishing a network of protected areas in Cambodia in 1993. The various twentieth-century Cambodian wildlife conservation policies, which all imposed external models, often without prior adequate field studies or involvement of local populations, have failed to prevent emblematic species from disappearing.

This article examines the development of teaching and research in International Relations (IR) in Cambodia. It argues that IR is a relatively nascent academic discipline, but a growing one. The discipline started to develop incrementally in the 2000s, partially resulting from the internationalization of higher education and growing student demand in the country. This preliminary study finds that mainstream Western theories dominate the discipline in Cambodia and realism is the dominant school of thought within it. Cambodian scholars, nevertheless, have a growing interest in exploring and learning Global IR, especially Asian IR. National experiences and circumstances are the key sources for developing indigenous IR theories, potentially contributing to the debates on Global IR. The publications by Cambodian IR scholars at home and abroad are highly valued by the local academic community. However, the lack of institutional support and research funding constrains IRrelated research and publishing in Cambodia.

Existing studies of the Cambodia-Thailand conflict over the Khmer temple of Preah Vihear tend to regard the temple as nationally significant to both countries. However, little is known about how the border temple complex has emerged from obscurity to symbolize the nation in Cambodian nationalist discourse. Therefore, this article seeks to examine the stakeholders, contexts, and specific political situations implicated in the emergence of the ancient temple as a site of national significance. It links the temple’s rise to national prominence in Cambodia to the broader context of Prince Norodom Sihanouk’s politics of postcolonial nation-building. I argue that Sihanouk had a strong stake in the temple and the conflict over it with Thailand. His investment in the project of nationalism in relation to the temple was an important resource in pursuing his wider political objectives in building the post-independence Cambodian nation.

This article examines the phenomenon of Cambodian intellectual curiosity about China through the social experiences of Phouk Chhay, a prominent leftist activist-critic and Pol Pot's one-time secretary. Amid Phnom Penh's urban radical culture, Phouk transformed from rural student to Communist guerrilla. He associated with Communists, formed pro-China student associations, and through his networks, went on trips that left lasting impressions. This study draws from issues of the Cambodian-Chinese newspaper Mianhua ribao (Sino-Khmer Daily) and several forced confessions to tell a story of becoming that examines community and network in charting the course of ‘China-curiosity’ as intertwined with Phouk's life trajectory.

Cambodian royalism is in its death throes. While the death of King-Father Sihanouk in 2012 caused an outburst of popular emotion, in the national elections held the following year royalists failed for the first time to win any parliamentary seats. A detailed case study of the difficulty of transposing royal legitimacy to the party-political context explains this apparent paradox. During the Second Kingdom (1993present) a largely hidden struggle to imbue royalism with meaning has unfolded. At the centre of this struggle has been the difficulty of transferring legitimacy from Sihanouk to other royalist actors, and in particular to his son Norodom Ranariddh. Sihanouk's unmatchable significance has resulted in formidable challenges that now confront Cambodian royalism.

This article pays tribute to the late Princess Norodom Buppha Devi (1943-2109) who played a major role in preserving Khmer court dance after the Khmer Rouge genocide in Cambodia (1975-1979). By looking at some of the innovative choreographies, costumes and musical choices (especially dance dramas) she created, we point out that Khmer court dance is neither purely ritualistic nor rigid; there is room for innovations. Furthermore, we argue that the Princess had participated in modernizing traditional Khmer court dance throughout her life. To this end, we look closely at her signature role in the so-called \"Apsara Dance, \" a role that catapulted her to fame and was captured as a celluloid apparition by the French filmmaker, Marcel Camus in his 1962 film, L'Oiseau de Paradis (The Bird of Paradise). We conclude by looking at the innovative elements she created for her last choreography, Metamorphoses. This work exemplifies how Khmer court dance can adapt to modern innovation, yet retain its traditional role as art and marker of cultural identity. Suppya Helene Nut is associate lecturer of Khmer literature and Southeast Asian theatre at Inalco (Institut national des langues et civilisations orientales), Paris. Boreth Ly is associate professor of Southeast Asian art history and visual culture at the University of California, Santa Cruz.