Book Review: Alexander Laban Hinton, Man or Monster?: The Trial of a Khmer Rouge Torturer
| Date | 01 November 2017 |
| Published date | 01 November 2017 |
| Author | Patrick Hein |
| DOI | 10.1177/1478929917714958 |
| Subject Matter | Book ReviewsAsia and the Pacific |
Political Studies Review 15(4)
still remains unanswered, though, refers to
(CPP) to electoral victory in the 1998 elections,
the prevention of this conflict: Were the
as it won 64 of the 123 seats in the National
tragic outcomes inevitable and, if so, what
Assembly. As Sullivan observes, the interest in
should be done to prevent a recurrence?
stability and peace took precedence over democ-
ratisation for the 1998 election outcome: ‘In the
Patrick Hein
end, international donor support for the 1998
(Meiji University, Japan)
election enabled authoritarian elements to pre-
© The Author(s) 2017
vail’ (p. 162). Moreover, international donor-led
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economic reforms were by and large unsuccess-
DOI: 10.1177/1478929917714956
journals.sagepub.com/home/psrev
ful because they served to ‘rationalize and legal-
ize […] an existing exploitative and extractive
state system, that served the dominant interests of
Cambodia Votes by Michael Sullivan.
the CPP’ (p. 199).
Copenhagen: NIAS Press, 2016. 341pp., £18.99
Subsequent elections in 2003 and 2008 rein-
(p/b), ISBN 9788776941871
forced CPP dominance even more. However, in
the 2013 elections, Hun Sen’s CPP won only a
narrow victory over Sam Rainsy’s Cambodian
Michael Sullivan’s book offers a valuable
National Rescue Party (CNRP). It came as a
account of elections in a country marred by a
shock to the CPP that it lost 22 seats as the
culture of impunity, authoritarianism and
CNRP captured 55 seats.
human rights violations. The well-chosen
What lessons can be drawn from this? Do
cover shows Hun Sen, one of the longest serv-
elections make democracies, as claimed by
ing, most resilient prime ministers, holding a
some? Sullivan concludes that ‘as crooked as
voting ballot in his hands. The strongman of
those elections were, they served the interests
Cambodia, a former Khmer Rouge officer who
of international donors’ (p. 294). It may be...
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