Khmer Studies

Violent accumulation: a postanarchist critique of property, dispossession, and the state of exception in neoliberalizing Cambodia

by Simon Springer

Springer, S. Forthcoming. Violent accumulation: a postanarchist critique of property, dispossession, and the state of exception in neoliberalizing Cambodia. Annals of the Association of American Geographers.

Employing a poststructuralist-meets-anarchist stance that advances conceptual insight into the nature of sovereign... more Employing a poststructuralist-meets-anarchist stance that advances conceptual insight into the nature of sovereign power, this article examines the dialectics of capitalism/primitive accumulation, civilization/savagery, and law/violence, which are argued to exist in a mutually reinforcing 'trilateral of logics'. In deciphering this triadic system, this article offers a radical (re)appraisal of capitalism, its legal process, and its civilizing effects, which together serve to mask the originary and ongoing violences of primitive accumulation and the property system. Such obfuscation suggests that wherever the trilateral of logics is enacted, so too is the state of exception called into being, exposing us all as potential homo sacer (life that does not count). Proceeding as a diagnostic assessment of sovereign power, where although signposted by Cambodia's contemporary experiences of violent land conflict, this article is not intended as a fine-grained empirical analysis. Instead, it forwards a theoretical dialogue where Cambodia's neoliberalizing processes offer a window on how sovereign power configures itself around the three discursive-institutional constellations (i.e., capitalism, civilization, and law) that form the trilateral of logics. Rather than formulating prescriptive solutions, the intention here is critique, where in particular it is argued that the preoccupation with strengthening Cambodia's legal system should not be read as a panacea for contemporary social ills, but as an imposition that serves to legitimize the violences of property.

Articulated neoliberalism: the specificity of patronage, kleptocracy, and violence in Cambodia's neoliberalization

by Simon Springer

Springer, S. 2011. Articulated neoliberalism: the specificity of patronage, kleptocracy, and violence in Cambodia's neoliberalization. Environment and Planning A. 43 (11) 2554-2570.

Focusing exclusively on external forces risks producing an over-generalized account of a ubiquitous neoliberalism,... more Focusing exclusively on external forces risks producing an over-generalized account of a ubiquitous neoliberalism, which insufficiently accounts for the profusion of local variegations that currently comprise the neoliberal project as a series of articulations with existing political economic circumstances. Although neoliberal economics were initially promoted in the global south through the auspices of structural adjustment programs designed by the International Financial Institutions, powerful global south elites were only too happy to oblige. Neoliberalism frequently reveals opportunities for well-connected government officials to informally control market and material rewards, allowing them to easily line their own pockets. It is in this sense of the local appropriation of neoliberal ideas that scholars must go beyond conceiving of ‘neoliberalism-in-general’ as a singular and fully realized policy regime, ideological form, or regulatory framework, and work towards conceiving a plurality of ‘actually existing neoliberalisms’ with particular characteristics arising from mutable geohistorical outcomes that are embedded within national, regional, and local process of market-driven socio-spatial transformation. What constitutes ‘actually existing’ neoliberalism in Cambodia as distinctly Cambodian is the ways in which the patronage system has allowed local elites to co-opt, transform, and (re)articulate neoliberal reforms through a framework that ‘asset strips’ public resources, thereby increasing peoples’ exposure to corruption, coercion, and violence. It is to such an 'articulation agenda' that this article attends, as in seeking to provide a more nuanced reading to recent work on neoliberalism in Cambodia by outlining some of its salient characteristics, I reveal a more empirical basis to theorizations of ‘articulated neoliberalism’.

For a non-violent, non-essentialist Cambodia: a reply to Ryerson Christie

by Simon Springer

Springer, S. 2011. For a non-violent, non-essentialist Cambodia: a reply to Ryerson Christie. South East Asia Research 19, 635-641.

A rejoinder to a review of my book 'Cambodia’s Neoliberal Order: Violence, Authoritarianism, and the Contestation of... more A rejoinder to a review of my book 'Cambodia’s Neoliberal Order: Violence, Authoritarianism, and the Contestation of Public Space' (Routledge, 2010).

Kbach Decoration and Design

by Jake Allee

La danza in Cambogia

by Oscar Nalesini

published in: Il Buddha. La vita, la dottrina, i luoghi, la cultura, la pratica. Roma, Gruppo Prima, 1995, vol. 6, pp. 105-120

General article on Khmer traditional dances General article on Khmer traditional dances

The Sanctuary of Huei Thamo, and the Historical Problems Raised by its Survey

by Oscar Nalesini

published in 'Southeast Asian Archaeology 1998. Proceedings of the 7th International Conference of the European Association of Southeast Asian Archaeologists', Wibke Lobo and Stefanie Reimann Editors. Hull, Centre for Southeast Asian Studies, University of Hull (Special Issue); Museum für Völkerkunde, Berlin (Veröffentlichungen des Ethnologisches Museum, Neue Folge, 70), 2000, pp. 123-138.

The straw man critique of neoliberalism in Cambodia

by Simon Springer

Springer, S. 2011. The straw man critique of neoliberalism in Cambodia. New Mandala: New Perspectives on Mainland Southeast Asia.

A detailed response to a critique of my work on neoliberalism in Cambodia. A detailed response to a critique of my work on neoliberalism in Cambodia.

Between war and peace: violence and accommodation in the Cambodian logging sector

by Simon Springer

Le Billon, P. and Springer, S. 2007. Between war and peace: violence and accommodation in the Cambodian logging sector. Extreme Conflict and Tropical Forests. Eds. Wil de Jong, Deanna Donovan, and Ken-ichi Abe. New York: Springer, pp. 17-36.

This chapter explores how forests contributed to the prolongation of conflict and to the difficulties of transition to... more This chapter explores how forests contributed to the prolongation of conflict and to the difficulties of transition to peace in Cambodia, including the financing of the Khmer Rouge, the reconfiguration of politico-economic networks of power, and the causes behind the apparent failure of both the government and the international community to transform this valuable natural resource into a positive factor for peace and reconstruction.

The neoliberalization of security and violence in Cambodia’s transition

by Simon Springer

Springer, S. 2009. The neoliberalization of security and violence in Cambodia's transition. Human Security in East Asia: Challenges for Collaborative Action. Ed. Sorpong Peou. New York: Routledge, pp. 125-141.

This chapter seeks to deconstruct the implications of shifting security’s frame of reference from the state to the... more This chapter seeks to deconstruct the implications of shifting security’s frame of reference from the state to the individual, and the potential for this scalar adjustment to be colonized by the purely economic goal of market preservation. These concerns are placed in the empirical context of Cambodia’s UN sponsored transition in the early 1990s, which effectively served as the pilot programme of the emerging human security agenda. The UN’s orchestration of the Cambodian ‘peace process’ is argued to have allowed the organization to formalize the newly minted human security doctrine during a self-congratulatory fervor that followed in the wake of what was presumed to be a successful transition to peace. However, the violence that swelled both during and after the transition reveals the human security discourse as deceptive, having very little to do with the prevention of violence other than in a rhetorical sense. Rather, the (in)actions of the international community in response to extrajudicial murders, threats of secession, electoral fraud, and coup d'état suggest that human security can be read as a pretext that effectively translates into the acceptance and promotion of the political status quo, as secured hegemony for the reigning political party means a secured marketplace open to foreign interests.

Clustering Face Carvings: Exploring the Devata of Angkor Wat

by Kent Davis

Co-authored by Anil K Jain, Brendan Klare, Pavan Mallapragada,
Michigan State University East Lansing, MI, U.S.A.

Presented in August 2010 at the International Conference on Pattern Recognition in Istanbul, Turkey http://www.icpr2010.org/

We propose a framework for clustering and visualization of images of face carvings at archaeological sites.
more We propose a framework for clustering and visualization of images of face carvings at archaeological sites.

The pairwise similarities among face carvings are computed by performing Procrustes analysis on local facial features (eyes, nose, mouth, etc.). The distance between corresponding face features is computed using point distribution models; the final pairwise similarity is the weighted sum of feature similarities.

A web-based interface is provided to allow domain experts to interactively assign different weights to each face feature, and display hierarchical clustering results in 2D or 3D projections obtained by multidimensional scaling. The proposed framework has been successfully applied to the devata goddesses depicted in the ancient Angkor Wat temple. The resulting clusterings and visualization will enable a systematic anthropological, ethnological and artistic analysis of nearly 1,800 stone portraits of devatas of Angkor Wat.

Culture of violence or violent Orientalism? Neoliberalisation and imagining the 'savage other' in post-transitional Cambodia

by Simon Springer

Springer, S. 2009. Culture of violence or violent Orientalism? Neoliberalisation and imagining the "savage other" in post-transitional Cambodia. Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers. 34 (3), 305-319.

Violence and authoritarianism continue to resonate in Cambodia’s post-transitional landscape, leading many scholars,... more Violence and authoritarianism continue to resonate in Cambodia’s post-transitional landscape, leading many scholars, journalists, international donors and non-governmental organisations alike to posit a ‘culture of violence’ as responsible for the country’s democratic deficit and enduring violence. In contrast, this paper interprets the culture of violence thesis as a sweeping caricature shot through with Orientalist imaginaries, and a problematic discourse that underwrites the process of neoliberalisation. The culture of violence argument is considered to invoke particular imaginative geographies that problematically erase the contingency, fluidity and interconnectedness of the places in which violence occurs. While violence is certainly mediated through both culture and place, following Doreen Massey’s re-conceptualisation of space and place, this paper understands place not as a confined and isolated unit, but as a relational constellation within the wider experiences of space. This reflection allows us to recognise that any seemingly local, direct or cultural expression of violence is necessarily imbricated in the wider, structural patterns of violence, which in the current moment of political economic orthodoxy increasingly suggests a relationship to neoliberalism. Through the adoption of the culture of violence discourse, neoliberalisation is argued to proceed in the Cambodian context as a ‘civilising’ enterprise, where Cambodians are subsequently imagined as ‘savage others’.

Violence, democracy, and the neoliberal ''order'': the contestation of public space in posttransitional Cambodia

by Simon Springer

Springer, S. 2009. Violence, democracy, and the neoliberal "order": the contestation of public space in posttransitional Cambodia. Annals of the Association of American Geographers. 99 (1), 138-162.

Neoliberal policies explain why authoritarianism and violence remain the principal modes of governance among many... more Neoliberal policies explain why authoritarianism and violence remain the principal modes of governance among many ruling elites in posttransitional settings. Using Cambodia as an empirical case to illustrate the neoliberalizing process, the promotion of intense marketization is revealed as a foremost causal factor in a country's inability to consolidate democracy following political transition. Neoliberalization effectively acts to suffocate an indigenous burgeoning of democratic politics. Such asphyxiation is brought to bear under the neoliberal rhetoric of order and stability, which can be read through the (re)production of public space. The preoccupation with order and stability serves the interests of capital at the global level and political elites at the level of the nation-state. Citizens themselves may fiercely contest these particular interests in a quest for a more radical democracy, as evidenced by the burgeoning geographies of protest that have emerged in Cambodian public spaces in the posttransition era.