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Korob, Kaud, Klach: In Search of Agency in Rural Cambodia

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  30 August 2006

Joakim Öjendal  and
Kim Sedara
Joakim Öjendal
Affiliation:
The Department of Peace and Development Research, Göteborg University, Sweden; his e-mail contact is joakim.ojendal@padrigu.gu.se
Kim Sedara
Affiliation:
The Cambodia Development Resource Institute (CDRI) and a Ph.D. candidate, Department of Peace and Development Research, Göteborg University; Email: kimsedara@yahoo.com
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Abstract

This article takes the dominant view of a top-down Khmer political culture as its point of departure and explores the extent to which the last decade's political changes have altered the socio-political landscape and triggered the growth of agency in rural areas. In particular, the reform of democratic decentralisation and its integrated ‘soft’ values are scrutinised in fields such as views on local governance, popular discourse on decentralisation, rural NGO activity and the gendering of politics.

Type
Articles
Information
Journal of Southeast Asian Studies , Volume 37 , Issue 3 , October 2006 , pp. 507 - 526
Copyright
2006 The National University of Singapore

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Footnotes

This article is based on fieldwork in rural Cambodia. Four communes were studied in a four-year period (2001–04) by Kim and/or Öjendal, focusing on the gradual implementation of the first phases of the decentralisation reform. Communes were selected randomly, but with a certain geographical spread. The method of study was qualitative, including participatory observation and semi-structured interviews. In addition, several other rounds of fieldwork, for other purposes but in similar surroundings, have been used for reference. Implicitly, the article draws on our previous work cited below. We acknowledge the contribution of Sovatha Ann in some of these field sessions. We are grateful to Caroline Hughes, who has provided very valuable comments; we have also enjoyed the wealth of constructive and concrete comments provided by two anonymous JSEAS reviewers.