Cambodia Peace and Politics

645 Words3 Pages
1. What is ‘peacebuilding’? Peacebuilding involves a full range of approaches, processes, and stages needed for transformation toward more sustainable, peaceful relationships and governance modes and structures. Peacebuilding includes building legal and human rights institutions as well as fair and effective governance and dispute resolution processes and systems. To be effective, peacebuilding activities requires careful and participatory planning, coordination among various efforts, and sustained commitments by both local and donor partners. 2. Cambodia has been the focus of some of the world’s most concentrated peace building activities. More than $1.8 billion spent on the work of the United Nations Transitional Authority in Cambodia alone (UNTAC). 3. Cambodia’s troubles have not been isolated to only the past 3 decades because of the Khmer Rouge. Cambodia has always been surrounded by expansionist neighbors, colonial powers, cold war super powers and agendas of “globalization”. 4. Cambodians have a distinct sense of identity based on the glories of the Angkor Empire, Khmer language and a Buddhist heritage. More than 90 percent of Cambodia’s population adheres to Theravada Buddhism, the religion of the Khmer people since the 15th century. Hence Buddhism is the state religion. 5. The author wants to emphasize on religious activism in 1993 and 1998 elections, to demonstrate that religion played an unconstructive role in conflict resolution or peace building when disengaged from social issues, or alternatively, when politically aligned or manipulated. Religion has contributed to peace building only when its leaders have played active nonpartisan in teaching, conflict resolution and advocacy for public ethics and nonviolence at grassroots and national levels. 6. When considering Cambodia one must consider the world’s apathy in the country’s
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