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July 28, 2008
on the elections
I'm not in Cambodia yet, but I felt like it was time for another entry. As you may have heard, the elections in cambodia went off without violence or controversy, though it seems more a product of everyone understanding that Hun Sen and the CPP are for better or worse the dominant force in the politics of cambodia, and use their incumbency very well (or very poorly, depending on your normative stance) when elections roll around. Finally and most importantly in any political race, when answering the fundamental question of the incumbent, "Are you better off than you were five years ago?" most Cambodians have to say yes. Violence is down, growth is up, and things seem like they're headed towards some form of normality.
I'm coming to Cambodia as an apolitical educator. I have no official position on the state of politics in the country, especially because I haven't visited myself. I don't want to come off like some self-proclaimed expert who never leaves the embassy. I neither want to look down my nose at the problems of cambodia, nor callously ignore them. All I can do is be understanding of the problems that ANY young democracy will have, including the USA. I have always been a student of history, and I learned two very important things about American history at Princeton: 1) that it took a very long time to consolidate a true democracy in our country, and 2) that any 'corruption' we decry today in other countries was probably equalled or surpassed at some point in our history. So an attitude of understanding and humility is really essential.
Posted by flynn at July 28, 2008 1:02 PM
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