New Perspectives on European Development Cooperation by Marjorie Lister

Author:Marjorie Lister [Lister, Marjorie]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780429701528
Goodreads: 51859246
Publisher: Routledge
Published: 2019-04-10T00:00:00+00:00

Cambodia

NGOs like to believe their approach to supporting development is superior to that traditionally adopted by major donors, of whom they are often critical. However the coincidence of interest between NGOs and donors - since the latter fund many" of the former - means that public criticism of the policies and practices of donors is usually muted. This remains true even though advocacy on development issues, including development funding and the activities of major donors, comprises an expanding part of the work of many NGOs. Criticism is more likely to be directed at institutions such as the IMF or World Bank, where financial links are less likely, than closer to home. But high-profile examples of the mismanagement of aid - such as the long-running scandal following the allocation of British development funds for the Pergau dam in Malaysia in 1991 - may attract attention. Cambodia has provided an exception to this rule which illustrates both the potential and the limits of conflict and criticism in relationships between European NGOs and the European Union. As such it also points to some of the parameters surrounding long term collaboration.

Cambodia's long period of international isolation lasted from the Khmer Rouge takeover in 1976 to the Paris Peace Accords of 1991. Following the overthrow of the Pol Pot regime by Vietnamese-backed forces in 1979, relief and rehabilitation programmes were supported by a wide range of governments and international agencies. However because of its dependence on Vietnam, Cambodia soon faced international isolation from all but a few Soviet-bloc countries. Only after the Paris Peace Accords, which in turn led to the UN-sponsored elections of 1993, did this isolation come to an end. The elections were won by the royalist FUNCINPEC, which entered into an uneasy coalition with the party of the ousted regime, the Cambodian People's Party (CPP), who retained control of much of the state apparatus. The CPP took over control of the country in 1997, following what amounted to a coup, which may have helped it to win elections against a now demoralized opposition in 1998.

Virtually all multilateral and Western bilateral agencies were absent from Cambodia throughout the 1980s, though some international NGOs remained. Though few in number they included several prominent European agencies, who had the capacity to deliver, by NGO standards, comparatively significant amounts of aid. During this period Cambodia was subjected to centralized state and party control, with no development of civil society, nor of course of Cambodian NGOs. All NGO aid was channelled through government. Many of these international NGOs campaigned against the isolation of Cambodia, pointing in particular to the perpetuation of the impoverishment of Cambodians.14 Primarily in order to pursue such common advocacy objectives, they established the NGO Forum on Cambodia (which later had an important role in the events of the mid-1990s with which we are mainly concerned). These NGOs also became a major reference point for those working in and on Cambodia, coming to see themselves as significant authorities on the country.

During the 1980s European

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