In civil war the causal mechanism on recruitment of combatants is complicated because armed groups interact for context-based strategic. This book argues that a group will adopt varying mobilization strategies depending upon the difference in a group's influence between the stronghold and contested areas, using as examples two Cambodian civil wars.

The Chronicle of a People's War: The Military and Strategic History of the Cambodian Civil War, 1979–1991 narrates the military and strategic history of the Cambodian Civil War, especially the People’s Republic of Kampuchea (PRK), from when it deposed the genocidal Khmer Rouge regime in 1979 until the political settlement in 1991. The PRK survived in the face of a fierce insurgency due to three factors: an appealing and reasonably well-implemented political program, extensive political indoctrination, and the use of a hybrid army. In this hybrid organization, the PRK relied on both its professional, conventional army, and the militia-like, "territorial army." This latter type was lightly equipped and most soldiers were not professional. Yet the militia made up for these weaknesses with its intimate knowledge of the local terrain and its political affinity with the local people. These two advantages are keys to victory in the context of counterinsurgency warfare. The narrative and critical analysis is driven by extensive interviews and primary source archives that have never been accessed before by any scholar, including interviews with former veterans (battalion commanders, brigade commanders, division commanders, commanders of provincial military commands, commanders of military regions, and deputy chiefs of staff), articles in the People’s Army from 1979 to 1991, battlefield footage, battlefield video reports, newsreel, propaganda video, and official publications of the Cambodian Institute of Military History.

In civil war the causal mechanism on recruitment of combatants is complicated because armed groups interact for context-based strategic. This book argues that a group will adopt varying mobilization strategies depending upon the difference in a group's influence between the stronghold and contested areas, using as examples two Cambodian civil wars.

There are many different types of power practice directed towards making soldiers obedient and disciplined inside the field of insurgency. While some commanders punish by inflicting physical pain, others use re-educative methods. While some prepare soldiers by using close-knit combat simulations, others send their subordinates immediately into battle. While these variations cannot fully be explained by the ideological set-up of different groups or by their political orientation, the basic assumption of the study is that they nevertheless do not emerge at random. This book puts forth that the type of power being utilised depends on the habitus of the respective commander and, as a result, becomes socially differentiated. Furthermore, power practices are shaped by the classificatory discourse of commanders (and their soldiers) on good soldierhood and leadership. The study found multiple ’habitus groups’ inside the field of insurgency, each with a distinctive classificatory discourse and a corresponding power type at work. While commanders shaped the dominating power practices (such as military trainings, indoctrination, systems of rewards and punishments, etc.), low-ranking soldiers took active part in supporting or undermining power according to their own habitus formation. This book helps professionals in this area to understand better the types of power practice inside insurgencies. It is also a useful guide to students and academics interested in peace and conflict studies, sociology and Southeast Asia.

Surveys violence in Cambodia from the nineteenth century to the present, testing the theories of Norbert Elias in a non-Western context.

This book identifies the conditions under which foreign countries intervene in civil wars, contending that we should consider four dimensions of civil war intervention. The first dimension is the civil war itself. The characteristics of the civil war itself are important determinants of a third party’s decision making regarding intervention. The second dimension is the characteristics of intervening states, and includes their capabilities and domestic political environments. The third is the relationship between the host country and the intervening country. These states’ formal alliances and the differences in military capability between the target country and the potential intervener have an impact on the decision making process. The fourth dimension is the relationship between the interveners. This framework of four dimensions proves critical in understanding foreign intervention in civil wars. Based on this framework, the model for the intervention mechanism can reflect reality better. By including the relationships between the interveners here, the book shows that it is important to distinguish between intervention on the side of the government and intervention on behalf of the opposition. Without distinguishing between these, it is impossible to consider the concepts of counter-intervention and bandwagoning intervention.

Reviews of the previous edition: "Excellently informative...lucid and convincing. This is a well-constructed and thoroughly useful book." --THE INDEPENDENT (UK) "The origins of each individual war are carefully analysed, and its course equally carefully chronicled."--TIMES EDUCATIONAL SUPPLEMENT (UK)

This is an ethnographic examination and an appraisal of the Cambodian genocide under Pol Pot based on the author's long fieldwork in the area.

Overzicht van de politieke situatie in Cambodja

And conclusions -- Pre-twentieth century democide -- 1. The megamurderers. Japan's savage military ; The Khmer Rouge Hell State ; Turkey's ethnic purges ; The Vietnamese War state ; Poland's ethnic cleansing ; The Pakistani cutthroat state ; Tito's slaughterhouse ; Orwellian North Korea ; Barbarous Mexico ; Feudal Russia -- 2. The centi-kilo and lesser murderers. Death by American bombing ; The horde of centi-kilo murderers ; The crown of lesser murderers -- 3. Statistics of democide, power, and social field. The social field of democide ; Democracy, power, and democide ; Social diversity, power, and democide ; Culture and democide ; The socio-economic and geographic context of democide ; War, rebellion, and democide ; The social field and democide ; Democide through the years.