The World We Want

Despite positive changes throughout the kingdom, Cambodia is consistently cast as a nation saddled by the weight of the Khmer Rouge regime and the legacies of genocide. This is despite the fact that over 30% of the country’s population is under the age of 15 making it one of the “youngest” countries in Asia.

Forty years after the fall of the Khmer Rouge, Cambodia is regularly framed as a “post-conflict” state, seemingly perpetually locked by many scholars and analysts in a position variously conceptualized as “victim,” “unstable,” or “damaged.” The absence of genuine recognition of real agency in Cambodia—by its people, its government, and its civil society—drives a flawed picture of today’s Cambodia and its opportunities for future development.

That is why Future Forum Cambodia produced this edited volume, with support from the United Nations in Cambodia and The SecDev Foundation. It examines 18 dimensions of Cambodia opportunity for development in the global order. These are the ideas and analyses of university-age youth—local experts in the world they want.