Under the Sangkum’s Eye: The Politics of Modernity in Cold War Cambodia, 1955-1970

This dissertation project explores discourses of modernity and national distinctiveness in Cambodia in the 1950s and 1960s and how those discourses were shaped and legitimated through four seemingly dissimilar national projects: foreign policy, cotton production, competitive sports, and state tourism. Led by Norodom Sihanouk, the Sangkum Party’s modernist movement relied on a form of Buddhist-Socialism called Khmer Socialism, which the Party paired with neo-Angkorian water conservation projects in an effort to ensure a prosperous future for Cambodia. This distinct form of Cold War modernist discourse was the Party’s vision for the future of Cambodia and acted as a prophylactic against foreign intervention. Although this period helped prime Cambodia for the Khmer Rouge takeover in 1975, the Sangkum era is still remembered fondly in Cambodia as the “Golden Years” in Cambodian history.

Author

• Leonhardt, Ron

Language

• en

Keyword

• Sihanouk
• Sangkum
• Cambodia
• Cold War
• Socialism
• Khmer Rouge

Date created

• 2020

Type of Work

• Dissertation

License

• All rights reserved

Rights statement

• In Copyright

GW Unit

• History

Degree

• Ph.D.

Advisor

• McHale, Shawn F

Committee Member(s)

• Clymer, Kenton
• Agnew, Hugh L
• Jacobsen, Trude
• Brazinsky, Gregg

Persistent URL

•  https://scholarspace.library.gwu.edu/etd/kd17ct50j