GOVT 4414 - Politics, Violence, and the Study of Cambodia

(crosslisted)
(also ASIAN 4414, CAPS 4414)(GB) (CA-AS)

Spring. 4 credits. Letter grades only.

A. Mertha.

This seminar embraces three goals. The first is to trace the evolution of politics in Cambodia from its independence to the present day, paying special attention to the last days of the Sangkum (1968-1970), the Khmer Republic (1970-1975), and Democratic Kampuchea under the Khmer Rouge (1975-1979). We will explore several themes, including postcolonial politics, insurgencies and civil conflict, and geopolitics and proxy wars. The second goal is to focus on the role of violence in Cambodian politics, both in terms that can be generalized to and from other political contexts (i.e., the USSR, China, Rwanda) as well as terms that are primordially, if not uniquely, Cambodian. The third goal of the course is to map out and evaluate the epistemology of Cambodian studies, to discuss the arguments and debates that divide the field, and to discuss the impact of these controversies on our past and present understanding of Cambodia. No prior knowledge of Cambodia is required or assumed.