Is Cambodia’s perennial bid to become a member of the United Nations Security Council an attempt by the current regime to project legitimacy? Undoubtedly. It is the culmination of two decades’ worth of Cambodian reintegration into the world. It is a process that began in 1991 with the “Agreements on a Comprehensive Political Settlement of the Cambodia Conflict”, aka “Paris Peace Accords”, continuing on through with ASEAN and WTO membership in 1999 and 2004.
Embedded within Phnom Penh’s pursuit for regime legitimacy, there is an additional and equally important issue: the steady presence of corruption enabled by foreign aid and intervention over the past two decades. Take into consideration Cambodia’s consistently poor ranking in the Corruption Perception Index. In 2008, Cambodia ranked 166 out of 180 and in 2011, the country ranked 164 out of 182; a trend of high public sector corruption. Corruption in Cambodia is rampant and a significant hindrance to social and economic development.
See full Press Release: http://www.weforum.org/content/does-foreign-aid-fuel-corruption
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