DECENTRALISATION, DEMOCRACY AND DEVELOPMENT IN A POST-CONFLICT SOCIETY: COMMUNE COUNCILS IN CAMBODIA

摘要

This article explores explanations for the development of a particular form of decentralisation in the post-conflict state of Cambodia. It looks at the context in which decentralisation has taken place, and analyses critical aspects of the functioning of the main elements of decentralisation: the commune councils. The article demonstrates that decentralisation has faltered due to a lack of fit with Cambodia's socio-cultural and institutional context. This helps to explain why there has been relatively little devolution of decision-making power to commune councils in Cambodia. But this is not the complete answer. A more powerful explanation is one in which an unconducive general environment for decentralisation complements a lack of real political enthusiasm for the idea, and a government agenda that is more consistent with pragmatic short-term political gains (such as the consolidation of political party interests) than it is with the bolder, largely ideologically-driven interests of donors in the post-conflict establishment of strong forms of popular participation and political pluralism.