Cambodia has accumulated hundreds of years of repressions, supervision by foreign countries, territorial partitions, insecurities, and conflicts. The last 5 decades, Cambodia has suffered extensive military or ideological wars, undergoing changing political regimes that were neither stable nor legitimately recognized. These passed from absolute monarchy, to communism attached to Maoism, to socialism after Marx and Lenin, to capitalism, and finally to constitutional monarchy based on parliamentary system, (Vannath 2003:49) which have influenced significantly all state institutions from complete destruction to reconstruction based on ideological, geo-strategic interest or political cupidity. Ironically, the country’s experience has remained internationally rather unnoticed, succeeding eventually in the past years to acquire political attention due to the substantial international financial and technical efforts in post-war reconstruction and peace building. (Heijmans 2004:331). With this support, Cambodia is trying to redefine itself and to open itself to the world as a regional equilibrating partner, a corner of cultural and architectural treasures, but also as a traumatized nation in need of foreign aid. In this process, the country has formulated diverse narratives to represent it on the international and domestic scene and to help people go on with a hope for peace and prosperity.
Given being this evolution, the thesis ascertains the contribution of the new Cambodian founding myths in the country’s peace building after having emerged from destabilizing rules, especially the Khmer Rouge regime. In the wake of democratization, Cambodia has started to set a new beginning, this paper searching to understand if these transitional definitions of the nation play a constructive part in the promotion of sustainable peace and security. The issue is still in the process of becoming, since only the end of the Vietnamese administration in September 1989 has opened the way for Cambodia to make justice and recover from the pernicious times. For this reason the victim narratives still claim justice, turning into full founding myths when they would have lost there appellative function. (Münkler 2008:2) Consequently, Cambodia slightly adopted some measures to improve its situation, among which the formulation of new narratives representing the nation’s position in dealing with its trauma in the face of the new international support and its own reckoning with its past.
Table of Contents
Introduction
1. The theoretical frame of research
1.1. Transitional Justice
1.2. Peace Building
2. Case study: Cambodia
2.1. Historical Background
2.2. The Cambodian Founding Myth
2.3. Does the Cambodian Post-Conflict Victim Founding Myth Promote Peace Building?
3. Critical Perspective on the Role of Founding Myths in Peace Building Processes
3.1. The Potential of Victim Founding Myths to Contribute to Peace Building
3.2. Limits of Post-Conflict Victim Founding Myths in Promoting Peace Building
4. The Issue of Exporting the Founding Myth Analysis Concept in non-European Regions
Research Objectives and Core Themes
This thesis examines the role and contribution of new Cambodian founding myths in post-conflict peacebuilding, specifically analyzing whether transitional national narratives serve as constructive foundations for sustainable peace and security in a country emerging from the Khmer Rouge regime.
- Analysis of transitional justice and peacebuilding frameworks in the Cambodian context.
- Evaluation of top-down and bottom-up narratives and their influence on national identity.
- Exploration of the intersection between social-psychological trauma and structural peacebuilding.
- Investigation into the impact of religious and cultural traditions on national redefinition.
- Assessment of the potential for exporting founding myth analysis models to non-Western regions.
Excerpt from the Book
2.2. The Cambodian Founding Myth
Several strings of narratives are noticeable in Cambodia since the UNTAC, reflecting a rearrangement of discourses that would mark a new beginning in the country’s history. They echo a development of a more socially oriented political dynamics, influencing simultaneously the configuration of the present collective images throughout the nation, and the coexistence of competing and amendatory forms of reference to the past, not by the autarchy of history or memory as Assmann (2006:51) asserted.
The first narrative string has been voiced in the early ‘90s at political level, where a radical turn took place in the state policy, especially concerning the relations with Vietnam that has been acting on the Cambodian political and economic development, dominating the discourse on foreign relations ever since. In the new discourse, Cambodia has tried to present itself to everybody as a friend, eluding hostilities especially with Vietnam, and to mark a new start as a regional actor, this corresponding however, only to the official fields without succeeding to represent a unification of the people for an outset.
Summary of Chapters
Introduction: This chapter contextualizes Cambodia’s historical trajectory of repression and conflict, establishing the research goal of evaluating how founding myths influence post-conflict peacebuilding.
1. The theoretical frame of research: This section defines the concepts of transitional justice and peacebuilding, exploring their interconnections and their roles in shaping post-conflict societies.
2. Case study: Cambodia: This chapter provides a detailed historical background and examines the formation of different narrative strings in Cambodia, specifically the development of the victim-centered founding myth.
3. Critical Perspective on the Role of Founding Myths in Peace Building Processes: A normative-analytical chapter that assesses the potential and limitations of victim founding myths in promoting sustainable peace.
4. The Issue of Exporting the Founding Myth Analysis Concept in non-European Regions: This final chapter evaluates the applicability of the founding myth analysis model to non-Western and religious countries in the context of post-conflict identity formation.
Keywords
Cambodia, Founding Myths, Peacebuilding, Transitional Justice, Victim Narrative, National Identity, Post-Conflict, Khmer Rouge, Collective Memory, Reconciliation, Social-Psychological, Democratization, Survivor, Impunity, Narratives.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the primary focus of this thesis?
The thesis investigates the role of post-conflict founding myths in Cambodia and how these narratives contribute to the country's peacebuilding and national redefinition processes.
Which central topics are addressed?
Key topics include the intersection of transitional justice, the psychological needs of survivors, the influence of Buddhist traditions, and the role of international aid in shaping Cambodian national identity.
What is the main research question?
The research explores whether transitional definitions of the nation, manifested through founding myths, play a constructive role in promoting sustainable peace and security in post-conflict Cambodia.
Which methodology does the author apply?
The study uses a qualitative research approach, employing a combination of normative and explanatory analyses based on existing secondary literature, documentation, and materials related to Cambodia's transformation.
What does the main body of the work cover?
It provides a historical analysis of Cambodia’s political regimes, identifies three specific narrative strings, examines the institutional impact of the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC), and discusses the limits of current peacebuilding strategies.
Which keywords best describe this research?
The research is best characterized by terms such as Cambodia, founding myths, peacebuilding, transitional justice, victim narrative, and collective memory.
How does the Cambodian Buddhist tradition influence the founding myths?
Buddhism serves as both a cultural anchor for national identity and, at times, a conservative force that promotes passivity and encourages the acceptance of status quo power structures, which can conflict with the more active demands for accountability in the victim narrative.
What role do international actors play in the development of these myths?
International actors exert significant influence through financial aid and the promotion of democratic norms, yet the author argues that successful founding myths must emerge from domestic impulses rather than being imposed from the outside.
Why is the ECCC considered significant in this study?
The ECCC serves as a critical institutional milestone where the victim narrative finally finds judicial expression, helping to bridge the gap between grassroots memory and official state acknowledgment.
- Arbeit zitieren
- M.A. Ricarda Popa (Autor:in), 2009, Founding Myths and Peace Building Processes In Post-Conflict Cambodia, München, GRIN Verlag, https://www.hausarbeiten.de/document/141996
