Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-s2hrs Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-10T09:01:25.909Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

State Mobilization in Authoritarian Regimes: Youth Politics and Regime Legitimation in Cambodia

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 October 2022

Mun Vong
Mun Vong*
Affiliation:
Griffith University, Australia
*
*Corresponding author. Email: m.vong@griffith.edu.au
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

This article explains the political significance of the Union of Youth Federations of Cambodia, the quasi-youth wing of the ruling Cambodian People's Party in Cambodia. I argue that pro-regime events organized by the youth wing are a form of state mobilization designed to help the ruling party pre-empt the threat posed by the country's growing youth population. In doing so, the youth wing draws upon the monarchy, culture, and nationalism to regenerate the ruling party's legitimacy claims to make them more appealing to the target group. The article contributes to our knowledge of how authoritarian regimes mobilize citizens to maintain power.

Keywords

state mobilizationlegitimationauthoritarian regimeyouth wingCambodia
Type
Article
Information
Journal of East Asian Studies , Volume 22 , Issue 3 , November 2022 , pp. 411 - 434
Check for updates
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2022. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of the East Asia Institute

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Anderson, Ashley, and Cammett, Melani. 2020. “The Dynamics of State-Mobilized Movements: Insights from Egypt.” In Ruling by Other Means: State-Mobilized Movements, edited by Ekiert, Grzegorz, Perry, Elizabeth, and Yan, Xiaojun, 261–290. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Arendt, Hannah. 1951. The Origins of Totalitarianism. New York: Harcourt.Google Scholar
Art, David. 2012. “What Do We Know about Authoritarianism after Ten Years?” Comparative Politics 44 (3): 351–373.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Asia Monitor Resource Centre. 2014. “A Week That Shook Cambodia: The Hope, Anger and Despair of Cambodian Workers after the General Strike and Violent Crackdown (Dec 2013–Jan 2014).” Hong Kong: Asia Monitor Resource Centre. www.uniontounion.org/pdf/FFM-Cambodia-Report.pdf.Google Scholar
Beissinger, Mark. 2020. “Social Sources of Counterrevolution: State-Sponsored Contention During Revolutionary Episodes.” In Ruling by Other Means, ed. Ekiert, Perry, and Yan, 140–165.Google Scholar
Böhmelt, Tobias, and Clayton, Govinda. 2018. “Auxiliary Force Structure: Paramilitary Forces and Progovernment Militias.” Comparative Political Studies 51 (2): 197–237.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Boussalis, Constantine, Dukalskis, Alexander, and Gerschewski, Johannes. 2022. “Why It Matters What Autocrats Say: Assessing Competing Theories of Propaganda.” Problems of Post-Communism, DOI: 10.1080/10758216.2021.2012199.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brooker, Paul. 1991. The Faces of Fraternalism: Nazi Germany, Fascist Italy, and Imperial Japan. Oxford: Clarendon Press.Google Scholar
Brownlee, Jason. 2007. Authoritarianism in an Age of Democratization. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bueno de Mesquita, Bruce, Smith, Alastair, Morrow, James, and Siverson, Randolph. 2003. The Logic of Political Survival. Cambridge, MA: MIT press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chambers, Paul. 2015. “‘Neo-Sultanistic Tendencies:’ The Trajectory of Civil-Military Relations in Cambodia.” Asian Security 11 (3): 179–205.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chhay, Sophal. 2019. [Hun Sen: Politics and Power in 40 Years of Khmer History]. 3rd ed. Phnom Penh.Google Scholar
Coppedge, Michael, Gerring, John, Knutsen, Carl Henrik, Lindberg, Staffan, Teorell, Jan, Altman, David, Bernhard, Michael, Cornell, Agnes, Steven Fish, M., and Gastaldi, Lisa. 2020. “V-Dem Codebook V10.” Varieties of Democracy (V-Dem) Project.Google Scholar
Dimitrov, Martin. 2017. “Anticipating Crises in Autocracies.” In Crisis in Autocratic Regimes, edited by Gerschewski, Johannes and Stefes, Christoph, 21–42. Boulder: Lynne Rienner Publishers.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dukalskis, Alexander. 2017. The Authoritarian Public Sphere: Legitimation and Autocratic Power in North Korea, Burma, and China. London: Routledge.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ekiert, Grzegorz, and Perry, Elizabeth. 2020. “State-Mobilized Movements: A Research Agenda.” In Ruling by Other Means, ed. Ekiert, Perry, and Yan, 1–23.Google Scholar
Ekiert, Grzegorz, Perry, Elizabeth, and Yan, Xiaojun, eds. 2020. Ruling by Other Means: State-Mobilized Movements. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Eng, Netra, and Hughes, Caroline. 2017. “Coming of Age in Peace, Prosperity, and Connectivity: Cambodia's Young Electorate and Its Impact on the Ruling Party's Political Strategies.” Critical Asian Studies 49 (3): 396–410.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Everett, Silas, and Meisburger, Tim. 2014. “Democracy in Cambodia 2014: A Survey of the Cambodian Electorate.” The Asia Foundation. https://asiafoundation.org/2014/12/10/the-asia-foundation-releases-cambodian-public-opinion-survey/.Google Scholar
Finkel, Evgeny, and Brudny, Yitzhak. 2012. “Russia and the Colour Revolutions.” Democratization 19 (1): 15–36.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ford, Michele, Gillan, Michael, and Ward, Kristy. 2020. “Authoritarian Innovations in Labor Governance: The Case of Cambodia.” Governance 34 (4): 1255–1271.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Frantz, Erica. 2018. “Authoritarian Politics: Trends and Debates.” Politics and Governance 6 (2): 87–89.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gerschewski, Johannes. 2018. “Analyzing Crises in Autocratic Regimes.” In Crisis in Autocratic Regimes, ed, Gerschewski and Stefes, 1–20.Google Scholar
Guriev, Sergei, and Treisman, Daniel. 2020. “A Theory of Informational Autocracy.” Journal of Public Economics 186: 104158.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Handlin, Sam. 2020. “Mirroring Opposition Threats: The Logic of State Mobilization in Bolivarian Venezuela.” In Ruling by Other Means, ed. Ekiert, Perry, and Yan, 217–239.Google Scholar
Hellmeier, Sebastian, and Weidmann, Nils. 2020. “Pulling the Strings? The Strategic Use of pro-Government Mobilization in Authoritarian Regimes.” Comparative Political Studies 53 (1): 71–108.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Honwana, Alcinda. 2013. Youth and Revolution in Tunisia. London: Zed Books.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Horvath, Robert. 2011. “Putin's ‘Preventive Counter-Revolution’: Post-Soviet Authoritarianism and the Spectre of Velvet Revolution.” Europe-Asia Studies 63 (1): 1–25.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Huang, Haifeng. 2015. “Propaganda as Signaling.” Comparative Politics 47 (4): 419–444.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hughes, Caroline. 2015. “Understanding the Elections in Cambodia 2013.” AGLOS: Journal of Area Based Global Studies 1 (1): 1–20.Google Scholar
Hughes, Caroline, and Kim, Sedara. 2004. The Evolution of Democratic Process and Conflict Management in Cambodia: A Comparative Study of Three Cambodian Elections. Working Paper. Phnom Penh: Cambodia Development Resource Institute.Google Scholar
Human Rights Watch. 2018. “Cambodia's Dirty Dozen: A Long History of Rights Abuses by Hun Sen's Generals.” Human Rights Watch. www.hrw.org/report/2018/06/27/cambodias-dirty-dozen/long-history-rights-abuses-hun-sens-generals.Google Scholar
Hun, Many. 2019. “ ” [His Excellency Hun Many's Complete Speech in the Ceremony Celebrating the 41st Anniversary of the Foundation of UYFC].” February 12, 2019. www.uyfc.org/12/2019/2157/.Google Scholar
Huntington, Samuel. 1970. Social and Institutional Dynamics of One-Party Systems. N.P.: Basic Books.Google Scholar
IRI (International Republican Institute). 2013. “International Republican Institute Survey of Cambodian Public Opinion.” www.iri.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/201420January202320Survey20of20Cambodia20Public20Opinion2C20October2028-November20102C202013.pdf.Google Scholar
Jayasuriya, Kanishka, and Rodan, Garry. 2007. “Beyond Hybrid Regimes: More Participation, Less Contestation in Southeast Asia.” Democratization 14 (5): 773–794.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jowitt, Kenneth. 1975. “Inclusion and Mobilization in European Leninist Regimes.” World Politics 28 (1): 69–96.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kasza, Gregory. 1995. The Conscription Society: Administered Mass Organizations. New Haven: Yale University Press.Google Scholar
Kerkvliet, Benedict. 2005. The Power of Everyday Politics: How Vietnamese Peasants Transformed National Policy. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Koesel, Karrie, and Bunce, Valerie. 2013. “Diffusion-Proofing: Russian and Chinese Responses to Waves of Popular Mobilizations against Authoritarian Rulers.” Perspectives on Politics 11 (3): 753–768.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kuran, Timur. 1989. “Sparks and Prairie Fires: A Theory of Unanticipated Political Revolution.” Public Choice 61 (1): 41–74.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kuran, Timur. 1991. “Now out of Never: The Element of Surprise in the East European Revolution of 1989.” World Politics 44 (1): 7–48.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Levitsky, Steven, and Way, Lucan. 2010. Competitive Authoritarianism: Hybrid Regimes after the Cold War. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Linz, Juan. 1970. “An Authoritarian Regime: The Case of Spain.” In Mass Politics: Studies in Political Sociology. New York: The Free Press.Google Scholar
Linz, Juan. 2000. Totalitarian and Authoritarian Regimes. Lynne Rienner Publishers.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lor, Sovanney. 2016. “ [The colour revolution is the most dangerous virus in the 21st century that must be eliminated].” The Cambodian People's Party. October 5, 2016. www.cpp.org.kh/details/5256.Google Scholar
Loughlin, Neil. 2021. “Beyond Personalism.” Contemporary Southeast Asia 43 (2): 241–64.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mabbett, Ian, and Chandler, David. 1995. The Khmers. Bangkok: Silkworm Books.Google Scholar
MacIntyre, Andrew. 1994. “Organising Interests: Corporatism in Indonesian Politics.” Working paper 43, Asia Research Centre on Social, Political and Economic Change, Murdoch University, Western Australia.Google Scholar
Mann, Michael. 1984. “The Autonomous Power of the State: Its Origins, Mechanisms and Results.” European Journal of Sociology/Archives Européennes de Sociologie 25 (2): 185–213.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mehta, Harish, and Mehta, Julie. 2013. Strongman: The Extraordinary Life of Hun Sen. Singapore: Marshall Cavendish Editions.Google Scholar
Merkel, Wolfgang. 2014. “Is There a Crisis of Democracy?” Democratic Theory 1 (2): 11–26.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Met, Kimau. 2018. “ [His Excellency Hun Many expresses his feeling after travelling one day and one night in the 40km-into-History event].” The Cambodian People's Party. November 30, 2018. www.cpp.org.kh/details/101266.Google Scholar
Morgenbesser, Lee. 2020. “The Menu of Autocratic Innovation.” Democratization 27 (6): 1053–1072.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ngoun, Kimly. 2022. “Adaptive Authoritarian Resilience: Cambodian Strongman's Quest for Legitimacy.” Journal of Contemporary Asia 52 (1): 23–44.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Norén-Nilsson, Astrid. 2017. “Elections and Emerging Citizenship in Cambodia.” In Citizenship and Democratization in Southeast Asia, edited by Berenschot, Ward, Schulte Nordholt, H.G.C., and Bakker, Laurens, 68–95. Leiden: Brill.Google Scholar
Norén-Nilsson, Astrid. 2021a. “A Regal Authoritarian Turn in Cambodia.” Journal of Contemporary Asia. DOI: 10.1080/00472336.2021.1974078.Google Scholar
Norén-Nilsson, Astrid. 2021b. “Youth Mobilization, Power Reproduction and Cambodia's Authoritarian Turn.” Contemporary Southeast Asia 43 (2): 265–292.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Peou, Sorpong. 2020. “Interparty and Intraparty Factionalism in Cambodian Politics.” Journal of Current Southeast Asian Affairs 39 (1):17–38.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Perry, Elizabeth, and Yan, Xiaojun. 2020. “Suppressing Students in the People's Republic of China: Proletarian State-Mobilized Movements in 1968 and 1989.” In Ruling by Other Means, ed. Ekiert, Perry, and Yan, 140–165.Google Scholar
Pin, Sisovann. 2007. “For Some, Khmer New Year Forever Linked to KR.” The Cambodia Daily, April 17, 2007. https://english.cambodiadaily.com/news/for-some-khmer-new-year-forever-linked-to-kr-1181/.Google Scholar
Raffin, Anne. 2012. “Youth Mobilization and Ideology.” Critical Asian Studies 44 (3): 391–418.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Roberts, Ken. 2015. “Youth Mobilisations and Political Generations: Young Activists in Political Change Movements during and since the Twentieth Century.” Journal of Youth Studies 18 (8): 950–966.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Robertson, Graeme. 2009. “Managing Society: Protest, Civil Society, and Regime in Putin's Russia.” Slavic Review 68 (3): 528–547.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rodan, Garry. 2018. Participation Without Democracy: Containing Conflict in Southeast Asia. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Roeder, Philip. 1989. “Modernization and Participation in the Leninist Developmental Strategy.” American Political Science Review 83 (3): 859–884.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rozenas, Arturas, and Stukal, Denis. 2019. “How Autocrats Manipulate Economic News: Evidence from Russia's State-Controlled Television.” The Journal of Politics 81 (3): 982–996.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schmitter, Philippe. 1974. “Still the Century of Corporatism?” The Review of Politics 36 (1): 85–131.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Scott, James. 1985. Weapons of the Weak: Everyday Forms of Peasant Resistance. New Haven: Yale University Press.Google Scholar
Scott, James. 1990. Domination and the Arts of Resistance: Hidden Transcripts. New Haven: Yale university press.Google Scholar
Smyth, Regina, Sobolev, Anton, and Soboleva, Irina. 2013. “A Well-Organized Play: Symbolic Politics and the Effect of the Pro-Putin Rallies.” Problems of Post-Communism 60 (2): 24–39.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Snyder, Richard. 2006. “Beyond Electoral Authoritarianism: The Spectrum of Nondemocratic Regimes.” In Electoral Authoritarianism: The Dynamics of Unfree Competition, edited by Schedler, Andreas, 219–231. Boulder: Lynne Rienner.Google Scholar
Strangio, Sebastian. 2014. Hun Sen's Cambodia. New Haven: Yale University Press.Google Scholar
Svolik, Milan. 2012. The Politics of Authoritarian Rule. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Un, Kheang. 2015. “The Cambodian People Have Spoken: Has the Cambodian People's Party Heard?” Southeast Asian Affairs 2015 (1): 102–116.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Un, Kheang. 2019. Cambodia: Return to Authoritarianism. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
UYFC. 2017. “ [Strategic Plan 2017–2019: Youth for the Cause of the Motherland].” Union of Youth Federations of Cambodia.Google Scholar
UYFC. 2018a. “Facebook Post on 02 December 2018.” February 12, 2018. www.facebook.com/uyfc.cambodia/posts/2427403250608750.Google Scholar
UYFC. 2018b. “Facebook Post on 02 December 2018.” February 12, 2018. www.facebook.com/uyfc.cambodia/posts/2427137230635352.Google Scholar
UYFC. 2018c. “ [UYFC Attends the Celebration of the 65th Independence Day 9 November 1953–9 November 2018].” September 11, 2018. www.uyfc.org/12/2019/2157/.Google Scholar
UYFC. 2018d. “Facebook Post on 16 October 2018.” October 16, 2018. www.facebook.com/uyfc.cambodia/posts/2354830271199382.Google Scholar
UYFC. 2018e. “ [Bravo! Cambodia breaks the world record for the longest dragon boat].” December 12, 2018. www.uyfc.org/11/2018/1663/.Google Scholar
UYFC. 2019. [Documentary – the World's Longest Krama]. www.facebook.com/watch/?v=611363199357264.Google Scholar
UYFC. 2020. - The Making of Angkor Sankranta (A Documentary). www.youtube.com/watch?v=Muw6TsLfq_s.Google Scholar
Vong, Mun, and Hok, Kimhean. 2018. “Facebooking: Youth's everyday politics in Cambodia.” South East Asia Research 26 (3): 219–234.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wallace, Julia. 2019. “Cambodia Ruler's Recipe for Youth Appeal? An 8,900-Pound Rice Cake.” The New York Times, January 24, 2019. www.nytimes.com/2019/01/23/world/asia/cambodia-hun-sen-world-records.html.Google Scholar
Wedeen, Lisa. 1999. Ambiguities of Domination: Politics, Rhetoric, and Symbols in Contemporary Syria. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
YAC. 2012. “ [Report on the Work of the Youth Association of Cambodia between the 2nd and 3rd General Assembly and the Goals of Youth Affairs for 2013-2018].” Phnom Penh: Youth Association of Cambodia.Google Scholar
Yuen, Samson, and Cheng, Edmund. 2017. “Neither Repression nor Concession? A Regime's Attrition against Mass Protests.” Political Studies 65 (3): 611–30.CrossRefGoogle Scholar