Katherine Brickell, Simon Springer (eds.): The Handbook of Contemporary CambodiaDaniel Bultmann

ASIEN – Nr. 142 (2017) pp. 103–104

London: Routledge, 2016. 496 S., 149,49 EUR

There is more to Cambodia than the Khmer Rouge. Our perception of Cambodia is often shaped by the horrors of the Communist Party of Kampuchea’s (CPK) reign from April 1975 to January 1979. However, “The Handbook of Contemporary Cambodia” makes a strong case for the importance of studying the contemporary forces that shape current Cambodian politics, economics and society beyond its tragic history of genocide and civil war. This impressive volume edited by Katherine Brickell and Simon Springer gathers 38 contributions from not only international experts, activists, and academics, but also Cambodian scholars, although their numbers are still limited. Examining the shape of contemporary Cambodian society and its striking complexities is an ambitious task…