The peace agreement, major reconstruction efforts and UN-supervised elections that followed Cambodia's dark period of civil war and genocide have not brought the democracy and reconstruction that was hoped for. Political stability has emerged but seemingly only at the expense of democracy. Moreover, reconstruction efforts appear to be at odds with processes of liberal democratization.

This volume (written by a broad mix of Khmer and non-Khmer researchers) is the first study to assess the post-conflict democratization and reconstruction process in Cambodia in a systematic and in-depth empirical way. In going beyond a one-dimensional view of democracy, the full complexity of this process is illuminated and an assessment is made about the viability of such post-conflict strategies elsewhere round the globe.