Read complete books and articles on: Khmer Rouge

Khmer Rouge - kəmĕrˈ roozh, name given to native Cambodian Communists. Khmer Rouge soldiers, aided by North Vietnamese and Viet Cong troops, began a large-scale insurgency against government forces in 1970, quickly gaining control over more than two thirds of the country. The strength of the Khmer Rouge rose dramatically from around 3,000 in 1970 to more than 30,000 in 1973, enabling most of the North Vietnamese and Viet Cong troops to withdraw. In 1975 the movement, led by Pol Pot, overthrew the Cambodian government, establishing "Democratic Kampuchea." The new government carried out a radical program of evacuating cities, closing schools and factories, and herding the population into collective farms. Intellectuals and skilled workers were assassinated, and a total of perhaps as many as 1.5 million died, inclusive of starvation and forced marches. In 1979, after increasing tensions with Vietnam, Vietnamese troops invaded, aiding a rival Communist faction to depose the Khmer Rouge government. The Khmer Rouge, however, continued to field an army of c.30,000 near the Thai border and retained UN recognition as the official Cambodian government. In 1982 it formed a coalition with former premier Norodom Sihanouk and non-Communist leader Son Sann. Khieu Samphan officially succeeded Pol Pot as head of the Khmer Rouge in 1985, but Pol Pot was believed to remain the real leader. All Cambodian factions signed (1991) a treaty calling for UN-supervised elections and disarming 70% of all forces. In 1992 the United Nations assumed the government's administrative functions, while the Khmer Rouge withdrew from the peace process and resumed fighting. The following year the Khmer Rouge rejected the results of the UN-run elections that brought a coalition government to Cambodia. The guerrilla force lost about half to three quarters of its strength (3,000–4,000 soldiers) in a mass defection in 1996. Factional fighting within the Khmer Rouge in 1997 led to Pol Pot's ouster, trial, and imprisonment by the Khmer Rouge. The group continued to disintegrate, and factional fighting resumed in 1998. Pol Pot died in April, Khieu Samphan surrendered in Dec., 1998, and by 1999 most members had defected, surrendered, or been captured.

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14 of the Best Books and Articles on: Khmer Rouge

as selected by Questia librarians

1.

The Cambodian Crisis, 1990-1992: The UN Plan, the Khmer Rouge, and the State of Cambodia, in Bulletin of Concerned Asian Scholars » Read Now
by Ben Kiernan. 22 pgs.

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...Crisis, 1990-1992: The UN Plan, the Khmer Rouge, and the State of Cambodia by...Vietnamese overthrow of the genocidal Khmer Rouge in 1979, the United Nations has...clear...
2.

Cambodia, Pol Pot, and the United States: The Faustian Pact » Read Now
by Michael Haas. 170 pgs.

Collections: History, Entire Library

This provocative analysis of U.S. policy toward Cambodia illuminates issues that remain especially pertinent in the aftermath of the Cold War. Haas examines U.S. failures in Cambodia and traces them to a combination of an idealistic desire to remake the world in the American democratic image, a...
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This provocative analysis of U.S. policy toward Cambodia illuminates issues that remain especially pertinent in the aftermath of the Cold War. Haas examines U.S. failures in Cambodia and traces them to a combination of an idealistic desire to remake the world in the American democratic image, a belief in U.S. omnipotence, and the realpolitik tradition of using power to advance U.S. interests whenever they seem to be threatened. Formulating a model of international relations based on democratic principles, Haas urges reflection on the lessons of Cambodia as policies are developed for the 1990s.
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3.

Elusive Justice for the Victims of the Khmer Rouge, in Journal of International Affairs » Read Now
by Stephen P. Marks. 28 pgs.

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4.

Orphans of Genocide: The Cham Muslims of Kampuchea under Pol Pot, in Bulletin of Concerned Asian Scholars » Read Now
by Ben Kiernan. 32 pgs.

Collections: Entire Library

...systematically destroyed and exterminated Khmer Rouge villages which they occupied. Their...Khmers had broken away from the Khmer Rouge and taken to the forests...
5.

Annihilating Difference: The Anthropology of Genocide (Chap. 7 "Dance, Music, and the Nature of Terror in Democratic Kampuchea") » Read Now
by Alexander Laban Hinton. 405 pgs.

Collections: History, Entire Library

"Fresh, useful, and engaging. This timely book reflects new research and important critical perspectives on the role of social science and the response of anthropology to human suffering."--Richard Pierre Claude, Founding Editor of "Human Rights Quarterly
"Many peoples of the world, including the...
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"Fresh, useful, and engaging. This timely book reflects new research and important critical perspectives on the role of social science and the response of anthropology to human suffering."--Richard Pierre Claude, Founding Editor of "Human Rights Quarterly
"Many peoples of the world, including the Mayans in Guatemala, have been devastated and destroyed by genocide. Over many years these horrors remained only in the hearts and memory of the victims. The testimonies of the survivors who had the courage to denounce these crimes are making a contribution to scientific research. In "Annihilating Difference, anthropologists grapple with an urgent public issue, taking new points of view that could help understand the magnitude of past atrocities and develop strategies to prevent future massacres in the heart of humanity."--Rigoberta Menchu Tum, 1992 Nobel Peace Prize laureate
"This volume--a collection of writings on genocide from the perspective of anthropology-seeks a deeper understanding of our era's most heinous crime. It asks not only what happened but why it happened. It seeks not simply to describe but to explain. And in offering an explanation of this horrendous social malady, it points the direction for a possible cure."--Kenneth Roth, Executive Director, Human Rights Watch, from the Foreword
"This volume ranges far and wide across centuries and cultures to present fascinating perspectives on the phenomenon of genocide. It is a new venture for anthropologists, whose insights will be useful to us all and who connect their scholarship to profound moral concerns."--Howard Zinn, author of "You Can't Be Neutral on a Moving Train
""Annihilating Difference is an anthropologicalcollection that warrants the attention of non-anthropologists. It simultaneously adds to the growing body of knowledge about genocide and provides a revealing glimpse into what anthropologists are studying and how they are studyi
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6.

A Century of Genocide: Critical Essays and Eyewitness Accounts (Chap. 11 "The Cambodian Genocide-1975-1979") » Read Now
by Israel W. Charny, William S. Parsons, Samuel Totten. 508 pgs.

Collections: History, Entire Library

The Rwandan government forces, as well as Cambodia's Khmer Rouge and German, Bosnian and U.S. governments, have all been guilty of the destruction of their indigenous cultures. This book analyses the major atrocities of our times, including recent cases of genocide in Yugoslavia and Iraq.
7.

Devastated Vision(s): The Khmer Rouge Scopic Regime in Cambodia, in Art Journal » Read Now
by Boreth Ly. 16 pgs.

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8.

Propaganda, Politics, and Violence in Cambodia: Democratic Transition under United Nations Peace-Keeping » Read Now
by Steve Heder, Judy Ledgerwood. 280 pgs.

Collections: History, Entire Library

...and his essay, "Metaphors of the Khmer Rouge," appeared in Cambodian Culture...rights, and the responses of the Khmer Rouge to the Paris agreements. The...Party of...
9.

Braving a New World: Cambodian (Khmer) Refugees in an American City » Read Now
by MaryCarol Hopkins. 169 pgs.

Collections: History, Entire Library

This ethnography, based on a five-year field study, presents a holistic view of a nearly invisible ethnic minority in the urban Midwest, Cambodian refugees. Hopkins begins with a brief look at Cambodian history and the reign which led these farmers to flee their homeland, and then presents an...
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This ethnography, based on a five-year field study, presents a holistic view of a nearly invisible ethnic minority in the urban Midwest, Cambodian refugees. Hopkins begins with a brief look at Cambodian history and the reign which led these farmers to flee their homeland, and then presents an intimate portrait of ordinary family life and also of Buddhist ceremonial life. The book details their struggles to adjust in the face of the many barriers presented by American urban life, such as poverty, dangerous neighborhoods, and unemployment, and also by the conflict between their particular needs and American institutions such as schools, health care, law, and even the agencies intended to help them.
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10.

Cambodia Reborn? The Transition to Democracy and Development ("The Kingdom of Cambodia and the Khmer Rouge" begins on p. 33) » Read Now
by Grant Curtis. 226 pgs.

Collections: History, Entire Library
11.

UNTAC's Mission in Cambodia: Prospects for Democracy and Human Rights, in Asian Affairs, an American Review » Read Now
by Terence Duffy. 23 pgs.

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...survived the "zero years" of Khmer Rouge only to languish in economic and...culminating in the genocide years of the Khmer Rouge. With these dark years as a...
12.

A History of Cambodia (Chap. 13 "Cambodia since 1979") » Read Now
by David Chandler. 296 pgs.

Collections: History, Entire Library

This clear and concise volume provides a timely overview of Cambodia, a small but increasingly visible Southeast Asian nation. Hailed by the Journal of Asian Studies as an "original contribution, superior to any other existing work, " the third edition of this acclaimed text has been completely...
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This clear and concise volume provides a timely overview of Cambodia, a small but increasingly visible Southeast Asian nation. Hailed by the Journal of Asian Studies as an "original contribution, superior to any other existing work, " the third edition of this acclaimed text has been completely revised and updated to include all-new material examining the death of Pol Pot and the region's continuing rivalry for political power. In addition, Chandler examines the unstable but influential career of Prince Norodom Sihanouk, the bloody reign of Pol Pot's Khmer Rouge, and the relative calm that followed the Vietnamese invasion of 1979. This comprehensive general description and analysis of Cambodia will illuminate -- for specialists and general readers alike -- the history and contemporary politics of a country long misunderstood.
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13.

Dragons Entangled: Indochina and the China-Vietnam War ("Cambodia" begins on p. 40) » Read Now
by Steven J. Hood. 192 pgs.

Collections: History, Entire Library

...Prospects for Peace in Indochina: The Khmer Rouge or Sihanouk?" by Steven J...National Liberation Front KR Khmer Rouge NCNA New China News Agency...Nol, and the PRC...
14.

Revolutions of the Late Twentieth Century (Chap. 10 "Cambodia: Revolution, Genocide, Intervention") » Read Now
by Jack A. Goldstone, Ted Robert Gurr, Farrokh Moshiri. 396 pgs.

Collections: History, Entire Library

...REVOLUTIONS OF THE LATE TWENTIETH CENTURY REVOLUTIONS OF THE LATE TWENTIETH CENTURY EDITED BY Jack A. Goldstone Ted Robert Gurr Farrokh Moshiri Westview Press...