This article analyses how and to what extent state regulation of civil society organisations (CSOs) have resulted in elitisation, i.e., the process of obtaining elite status within and beyond civil society. This is studied in the context of emerging democracy in Indonesia and shrinking civic space in Cambodia. Combining Bourdieu’s concepts of field and elite with strategic action fields, the article uses data from interviews with civil society leaders. It finds different patterns. In Indonesia, elitisation occurs through a process […]

The study applies the Hierarchical Linear Modeling(HLM) approach using the international learning assessment survey, PISA for Development (PISA-D), to examine the effects of demand-side and supply-side factors associated with academic performance in Cambodia. Findings from the study suggest that students’ characteristics and family background are good predictors of students’ test scores in Cambodia, while demand-side factors such as school size, class size, student grouping by ability, remedial class, and teacher absenteeism have little or no influence on student learning performance. […]

STEM (science, technology, engineering, mathematics) education is attracting increasing public interest and policy attention and being promoted at different educational levels in Cambodia. The study seeks to identify factors associated with Cambodian university freshmen’s choice of STEM major and how significant associations differ by gender and university location. The study draws on primary data collected from a survey of 2,016 freshmen at 15 universities across Cambodia. Binary logistic regression was applied to detect correlates of major choice (dichotomized into STEM […]

This article focuses on the intricate nature of scaling practices in social enterprise organizations (SEOs). The research is based on case study methodology in two different institutional environments, the Netherlands and Cambodia. Comparing and contrasting these cases, the article raises questions about ways in which the institutional environments affect scaling practices. Whilst Dutch and Cambodian SEOs upscale to address market deficiencies in dissimilar institutional environments, the dominant strategy in both cases is to scale for depth impact. Under neoliberal market […]

Rural internet use, although still limited, is growing, raising the question of how rural people are using social media politically. As a vehicle of communication that permits the rapid transmission of information, images and text across space and connections between dispersed networks of individuals, does technological advance in rural areas presage significant political transformations? This article investigates this question in the light of a poor result for the Cambodian People’s Party in the 2013 elections, and the subsequent banning of […]

Intention to engage in research activities has probably been one of the least investigated concepts when it comes to literature on relationship among research attitudes, research behaviors and research outputs. Only few studies in the past drew on the Planned Behavior Theory to explore how research intention mediates between certain antecedent variables and research performance. Extending the previous literature, this current study aimed to use some key variables from previous theories [i.e. Planned Behavior Theory and Social Cognitive Career Theory] […]

Cambodia’s youthful population is significantly responsible for a recent unexpected decline in the popularity of the Cambodian People’s Party, which has governed since the end of the Khmer Rouge regime. This increasingly young electorate has lived through an era of peace and openness with regular multi-party elections and impressive economic growth resulting in rapid structural change in the economy. Compared to their parents’ generation, this younger generation is better educated, highly mobile, aspires to salaried employment, and is well connected […]

Emigration is a significant and growing phenomenon for Cambodia. Between 2000 and 2015, the stock of Cambodians abroad increased by about 160%, from around half a million to 1.2 million people. Today, about 10% of Cambodians over the age of 15 plan to emigrate. Despite the country’s steady economic growth, labour market demand has not been sufficient to meet the increase in the working population, and poverty remains significant, despite encouraging signs. Many households choose migration as a strategy for […]

This paper examines the quality of primary education provision in Cambodia using a ‘political settlements’ framework developed at the University of Manchester. The framework characterises Cambodia as a ‘hybrid’ settlement with a weak dominant party and predatory administration, albeit with some islands of administrative effectiveness. Such states can achieve developmental progress in circumscribed areas with multi-stakeholder support, but more wide-ranging, top-down reforms will normally disappoint. We use the framework retrospectively to explain the balance between quantity and quality in Cambodia’s […]

The usual arguments for decentralization by its advocates are that it can achieve accountability, transparency, participation and democracy. In reaching these goals, however, proponents of decentralization reform have articulated concerns about whether government officials have sufficient capacity to implement decentralization policies, particularly at local level. This article asserts that in Cambodia, where decentralization has unfolded gradually since its adoption some 15 years ago, lack of capacity is not the main problem. Decentralization is designed and implemented as part of the ruling […]

Using propensity score matching, this study examines the effects of migration on various indicators of household wellbeing in Cambodia. The results indicate that migration would reduce poverty headcount rate by 3–7 percentage points and decrease the depth of poverty. Migration is also found to reduce by 5–10 percent the hours worked by members left-behind. The impact of migration on labour participation may be, however, vulnerable to unobservable factors. Nevertheless, the study suggests that important heterogeneous effects which differ from the […]

The study examines the characteristics, root causes, and challenges of irregular migration from Cambodia and then discusses the regulatory approaches and policy options to manage it. It employed mixed approaches, including a survey of 507 households in six high-migration villages, focus group discussions with returned and intending migrant workers, and in-depth interviews with government officers, migration experts, and local community chiefs.Irregular migration has been the most popular form among Cambodian workers seeking jobs abroad. This method is widely regarded as […]