Cambodia
Cambodia is located in Southeastern Asia and shares borders with Thailand, Vietnam, and Laos. The Mekong River flows from the northern section of the country south into the Mekong Delta found in Vietnam (“Cambodia Market Profile”). Cambodia has a total area of 69,900 square miles, making the country roughly the size of the state of Missouri. (“Cambodia Market Profile”). With a population of approximately 15 million as reported by Nations Online, Cambodia is ranked the seventh most populous country in Southeastern Asia (“Countries by Continents ___ Countries of Asia”). Approximately 1.5 million of their population is concentrated in the capital city of Phnom Penh (“Facts”). The country is divided into 24 provinces and 4 municipalities. Khmer is the main language spoken in Cambodia is and Buddhism is the most practiced religion (“Country Profile for Cambodia”).
International Trade
Exports
“Cambodia is one of the few Least Developed Countries to export over $2 billion worth of goods (Doing Business in Cambodia).” In 2012, Cambodia was reported to have exported an annual total of $5.48 billion in U.S. dollars (Kunmakara and Xiang). The highest quarterly amount reported was $1.8 billion U.S. dollars during the third quarter of 2013 (“Cambodia Exports”). After joining the World Trade Organization in 2004, Cambodia has experienced extraordinary economic growth, largely due to it’s largest trading partner – the United States. (Doing Business in Cambodia). While Cambodia only holds 0.04 percent of the world’s share of world total exports, its small economy is rapidly quickly.
The major exports produced by Cambodia include goods from the agricultural, fuel and mining, and manufactures industries (“Cambodia – Trade Profiles”). Th...
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...t system (“Country Profile of Cambodia”).
Currently, Cambodia is experiencing a time of political and social unrest. Hun Sen was elected the Prime Minister of Cambodia after a disputed election. Street protestors have been killed and it is feared this unrest will continue. Prime Minister Hun Sen has been known for his brutality and lack of concern for human rights (Campbell).
Conclusions and Recommendations
The United States should view Cambodia as a nation that has great potential for economic success. Cambodia has offered many opportunities for foreign investors with great incentives. The economic indicators are constantly growing. In order to continue with this trend of progress, the infrastructure is being upgraded and small victories for human rights are being witnessed. These factors indicate the business environment is favorable for investment in Cambodia.
I chose Cambodian Americans for my target culture because it was a place I knew very little about. My ignorance of that side of the world is laughable to say the least. Cambodian American was a great choice because both the people and the culture are very captivating to me. While some Cambodian Americans become very westernized, accepting most of America’s cultural norms, some hold strong to their Cambodian traditions and way of life. Through Geert Hofstede’s Taxonomy, I will explore the dynamics of the Cambodian American culture. Through Identity, Hierarchy, Gender, Truth and Virtue I will attempt to describe a culture previously virtually unknown to me. I chose Hofstede’s Taxonomy over Bond’s because Michael Bond himself told me to. “Charlotte, I did this work in the 1980's, and found that 3 of my 4 nation-level dimensions overlapped with Hofstede's and one was distinct.” said Bond to me when I asked him to elaborate on his taxonomy.
The leaders of the Khmer Rouge Were Pol Pot, Nuon Chea, Ieng Sary, Son Sen and Khieu Samphan. The main leader was Pol Pot. He was born in Prek Sbauk on May 19, 1928. His real name was Saloth Sar. He went to French to study college. The name Pol Pot comes from the French word “Politique Potentielle.” After he came back from France, he got interested in politics. On the year of 1953, he left home and joined the government group Viet Minh’s Eastern Zone Headquarters. This group was
Expressions of Cambodia: The Politics of Tradition, Identity, and Change. By Leakthina Chan-Pech Ollier and Tim Winter. London: Routledge, 2006. 86-100. Print.
Pol Pot was a Cambodian Revolutionary who led the Khmer Rouge outbreak that led to many many deaths. Before Pot began all of this craziness he went to college on full scholarship to study radio electronics. He quickly became vastly interested in Marxism and ended up losing his scholarships. Pol Pot then returned to Cambodia and joined the underground Communist movement. (The History Place; Genocide
The Cambodian genocide left an economic imbalance in the Cambodian society. Since Pol Pot wanted to return Cambodia to an agrarian society, free of Western influence, he killed many intellectual people (i.e. doctors, monks, students, ex-government officials, ex-military officials, professors, lawyers, etc) This created an imbalance in the society. Currently, there more uneducated farmers in Cambodia than intellectual people. The imbalance makes it very difficult for the Cambodian economy to create jobs that apply to the majority of Cambodians (i.e. the demographic
Academic Consortium on International Trade (2000) Letter to Presidents of Universities and Colleges. Available at: http://www.spp.umich.edu/rsie/acit/ [Accessed 1 April 2014]
Cambodia is one the poor country in Southeast Asia that has the highest Maternal mortality rate. This undeveloped country could make a woman die when they give childbirth. Almost of the victim’s women are living in the province because the health center is too far from their home. Moreover, this is important for me to investigate this topic because I want to prevent this bad issue and get rid out of it. There are many reasons that women still die during childbirth, such as, time (before, during and after childbirth issue), age, low-income country and tradition.
The Cambodian Genocide has the historical context of the Vietnam War and the country’s own civil war. During the Vietnam War, leading up to the conflicts that would contribute to the genocide, Cambodia was used as a U.S. battleground for the Vietnam War. Cambodia would become a battle ground for American troops fighting in Vietnam for four years; the war would kill up to 750,00 Cambodians through U.S. efforts to destroy suspected North Vietnamese supply lines. This devastation would take its toll on the Cambodian peoples’ morale and would later help to contribute that conflicts that caused the Cambodian genocide. In the 1970’s the Khmer rouge guerilla movement would form. The leader of the Khmer rouge, Pol Pot was educated in France and believed in Maoist Communism. These communist ideas would become important foundations for the ideas of the genocide, and which groups would be persecuted. The genocide it’s self, would be based on Pol Pot’s ideas to bring Cambodia back to an agrarian society, starting at the year zero. His main goal was to achieve this, romanticized idea of old Cambodia, based on the ancient Cambodian ruins, with all citizens having agrarian farming lives, and being equal to each other. Due to him wanting society to be equal, and agrarian based, the victims would be those that were educated, intellectuals, professionals, and minority ethnic g...
During the beginning of the genocide, after the war, the Khmer Rouge were able to manipulate the public with their clever thinking and brutal ways. It helped that the Cambodians wanted peace at any cost, but the cost that needed to be payed, was the cost of their freedom. “The Khmer Rouge were very clever and brutal. Their tactics were effective because most of us refused to believe their malicious intentions. Their goal was to liberate us. They risked their own lives and gave up their families for ‘justice' and ‘equality.’ ” Said Teeda Butt Mam. They fought the war to make the Cambodians believe in them, then flipped the table and attacked them, tearing them out of their homes. According to Teeda Butt Mam, they had forced apart families and neighbors, trying to stop alliances from happening. They were playing a game of chess with Cambodia and already had them in
Profile of Exports, Imports and Trade Partners. Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License, n.d. Web. 13 May 2014.
Next, why did they start devastating this small nation? It all started when the Kmer Rouge decided to make Cambodia like unto a Maoist China. They made everyone become peasants and anyone who could possibly be opposed to the system was exterminated. This included educated people, professionals, monks, religious enthusiasts, people who practice religion, and many from other countries or that have roots in other countries.(Walker) The Religions that were taken away were most commonly but not limited to Buddhist, Muslim, and Christians. The ethnicities that were devastated were Chinese, Vietnamese, Thai, and Cambodians with any of those heritages. Sadly, the main problems...
The movement particularly emphasizes on exports from developing countries to developed countries, with products such as handicrafts, coffee, cocoa, sugar, tea, bananas, honey, cotton, wine, fresh fruit, chocolate, flowers and gold. Moreover, coffee is one of the most widely traded goods in the world. For many developing countries, coffee trade is an important source of income. Producers can provide a better trading and improve terms of trade. Moreover, this allows producers to improve workers’ living environment and future life in general (De Pelsmacker, Driessen and Rayp, 2005).
Cambodia has come a long way from its days under French rule and the disastrous rule of the Khmer Rouge. With 14.9 million people living a relativity peaceful and prosperous life, Cambodia still has a long ways to go to join the ranks of world powers. Education has flourished in Cambodia with most its population attending school and have gone on to even higher education. The main goal is to make sure all of its population is literate so they can be active in life. The government is taking an active role to provide the best for its people whether through reform whether through education or elections. It makes sure to never repeat it’s dark past and always have a bright future.
Lao society is rural and subsistence agriculture accounts for half of the GDP and provides 80% of employment. Rice is the primary crop, grown on about 80% of Laos’ arable land. Laos received development aid from the International Monetary Fund, Asia Development Bank and other international sources. Agricultural production and most manufacturing production are mostly conducted by the private se...
During the twentieth century, the world began to develop the idea of economic trade. Beginning in the 1960’s, the four Asian Tigers, Hong Kong, Singapore, South Korea and Taiwan, demonstrated that a global economy, which was fueled by an import and export system with other countries, allowed the economy of the home country itself to flourish. Th...