This book seeks to explain why international donors may succeed in putting war-torn countries on the path of democratic transition and negative peace, but fail to consolidate the gains they make. Cambodia provides an excellent example for international peace builders: the donor community spent billions of dollars rebuilding the country between 1992 and 2006, but democracy remains unconsolidated and may even be receding towards "electoral dictatorship." Critical of neo-institutionalism, but sympathetic to historical and normative institutionalism, this book advances a theory called "complex realist institutionalism" to explain the limits of international democracy assistance to post-war societies.
Author(s): Sorpong Peou
Edition: 1st
Year: 2007
Language: English
Pages: 240
Cover......Page 1
Contents......Page 8
Preface and Acknowledgements......Page 9
Introduction......Page 12
Part I: The Analytical Framework......Page 18
1 Democratic Regime Consolidation and International Democracy Assistance......Page 20
2 Institutional Structure and Structural Challenges......Page 32
3 Research Methodology: Cambodia as Case Study......Page 44
Part II: Power vs. Democratic Consolidation......Page 58
4 Electoral Procedural Rules under Constraint......Page 60
5 Liberal Norms under Stress......Page 72
6 Liberty under Pressure......Page 84
Part III: The Limits of Institutionalization......Page 96
7 State Institutions' Underdevelopment......Page 98
8 Political Society's Underdevelopment......Page 111
9 Civil Society's Underdevelopment......Page 123
Part IV: Structural Challenges to Institutionalization......Page 136
10 Non-material Constraints......Page 138
11 Economic Impediments......Page 150
12 Political Impediments......Page 162
Part V: The Limits of Democracy Assistance......Page 176
13 Limits of Assistance for Institution Building......Page 178
14 Limits of Economic Assistance......Page 191
15 Limits of Political Assistance......Page 204
Conclusion: Toward Complex Realist Institutionalism......Page 218
Notes......Page 227
Selected Bibliography......Page 247
C......Page 264
E......Page 266
H......Page 267
L......Page 268
N......Page 269
P......Page 270
T......Page 271
Z......Page 272
