This webinar will examine Cambodia’s foreign policy towards the US from the 1960s to the present day. The webinar will examine the opportunities and challenges between the two countries. It will also outline how Cambodia has taken steps to improve its bilateral ties with the US while insisting on its non-interference in Cambodia’s internal affairs, especially over the issues of human rights and democracy in Cambodia.
Presenter:
Dr. Chheang Vannarith is a public policy analyst and government relations strategist. Currently, he is serving as the President at the Asian Vision Institute (AVI), Adjunct Lecturer at Nanyang Technological University, and Visiting Fellow at ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute. His research interest focuses on geopolitical and geo-economic analysis of the Mekong region. He received his Ph.D. in Asia Pacific Studies from Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University (Japan), Leadership Certificate from the East-West Centre (United States), MA in International Relations from the International University of Japan, and BA in International Relations from the Diplomatic Academy of Vietnam.
Dr. Thearith Leng is Director of the Mekong Centre of Strategic Studies of the Asian Vision Institute based in Phnom Penh. Dr. Leng is concurrently a visiting fellow at the Department of Political and Social Changes of the Australian National University (ANU). Between 2006 and 2011, he worked as the Bureau Chief of the General Department of ASEAN of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation of Cambodia. In 2009, he was a lecturer and academic advisor to the Department of International Studies of the Royal University of Phnom Penh.
Discussant:
Kosal Path is an associate professor of political science and chair of Master’s Program in International Affairs and Global Justice. He is a survivor of the Cambodian genocide. From 1995 to 2000, he took part in documenting the atrocities committed by the Pol Pot regime, 1975-79. From 2009 to 2011, he taught international relations at the University of Southern California where he received an award of excellence in teaching international relations. His main teaching interests are international relations, genocide, and human rights. He is the author of Vietnam’s Strategic Thinking During the Third Indochina War (The University of Wisconsin Press, 2020).
Moderator:
Ann Marie Murphy is a Professor at the School of Diplomacy and International Relations, Seton Hall University, Senior Research Scholar at the Weatherhead East Asian Institute, Columbia University, and 2019-2010 ASEAN Research Program Fulbright Scholar. Dr. Murphy’s research interests include international relations and comparative politics in Southeast Asia, U.S. foreign policy toward Asia, and governance of non-traditional security issues. Dr. Murphy is a founding partner of the New York Southeast Asia Network and is currently completing a book on the impact of democracy on Indonesian foreign policy with the generous support of the Smith Richardson Foundation.
This event is part of the Southeast Asia Views America: Perceptions, Policies & Prospects virtual conference.
This event is organized by the Weatherhead East Asian Institute at Columbia University and cosponsored by the New York Southeast Asia Network (NYSEAN) and the School of Diplomacy and International Relations at Seton Hall University.