Government And Economy Of Cambodia example essay topic

Cambodia has had a bit of trouble when it comes to the economy and how that all works. Because of the fact that Cambodia is a "special" case in every circumstance, one can only come to the conclusion that when it comes to the economy, Cambodia remains a "special" case. Cambodia being a constitutional monarchy definitely has something to do with the way that the economy works. Seeing as how the prime minister is in control of the military as well, it is understandable that there may look to be a few people in charge when it really comes down to what the prime minister, Hun Sen says. When looking at Cambodia's situation, is seems to be that the economy is run by a developmental state-centered model. The reason that it is this model is, "Although the political sphere is formally organized as a representative democracy, it has actually contained all along two institutionally segregated functions, ruling: which is the authoritarian decision making of the bureaucracy, and reigning: which is the political give and take of competing partisan interests in a parliamentary forum.

Reigning is the domain of democratically elected 'politicians,' while ruling, the orchestration and guidance of the national economy, is carried out by technocratic civil servants in government agencies" (Simone, 195). It seems evident that this is the one of the four models of political economy that best describes the way that Cambodia operates. When looking back at how exactly the economy came about in Cambodia, it seems to be that the economy was based on exports, although even today, it has to be one of the weakest economies because it is one of the weakest states in Asia. There are however, many exports that come from Cambodia that the world needs. For instance, rice and wood are very much needed throughout the world and they come as a natural resource to Cambodia. This is one of the most positive outlooks for Cambodia seeing as how it has gone through a very difficult history.

It is a disappointment however, that because of the fact that, "40% of the population is under fifteen years of age and larger numbers will begin to enter the work force over the next ten years" (web). It just seems that there is not any real good outlook coming at least in the next ten years for Cambodia as far as the economy goes. After independence, the economic development was achieved by all of the other countries that were fighting over it until the end of the Cold War. Countries like Vietnam and Thailand were the two that wanted Cambodia and were willing to fight for it after it has gained independence from France in the 1950's. Then, at the end of the Cold War, no one really seemed to care anymore and it was up the Cambodians themselves to fight for their country. So, it was essentially the fighting by Vietnam and Thailand and then the Cambodians that set up the government and economy of Cambodia.

This too, however, was something that did not come easily for any of the three countries involved. There was such a focus on exports only because of the fact that Cambodia was so weak and did not have the means to really import without exporting first. When Cambodia was faced with problems with the international market, it seemed to do the best that it could with trying to appease the other countries involved in order to make sure that there was not any more turmoil and it could possibly be a peaceful country. In addition, there was and still is significant foreign aid from many of the big players in the world like the U.S., the EU, and many Asian countries as well.

It is important to remember that Cambodia may be weak, but is looked out for by the rest of the world. This then leads to the point that there is a large and important dependence on the international market by Cambodia. It needs to have the other parts of the world importing its exports as well as giving aid in order for the incredibly weak economy to run well, or at least run at all. In conclusion, Cambodia has gone though a lot of hardships that have made the economy suffer even today. Throughout all of history until the present Cambodia has had to deal with struggles in government and economy.

Because of this, the economy has been hit harder than any other part of the internal system of government. However, there have been improvements since the foreign aid has gone up and specifically since the U.S. and the EU have stepped in.