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Cover of International Democracy Assistance for Peacebuilding
Book details

International Democracy Assistance for Peacebuilding

The Cambodian Experience (Rethinking Peace and Conflict Studies)

by Sorpong Peou

Published 2007240 pagesISBN 978-0-2305-2137-7

"International Democracy Assistance for Peacebuilding seeks to explain why international donors may succeed in putting war-torn countries on the path of democratic transition and negative peace, but fail to consolidate the gains they make. Cambodia provides an excellent example for peace builders: the international donor community spent billions of dollars rebuilding the country between 1992 and 2006, but democracy remains unconsolidated and may even be receding towards 'electoral dictatorship'. Critical of neo-liberal institutionalism, this book advances a theory called 'complex realist institutionalism' to explain the limits of international democracy assistance to post-war societies. Institutions matter if they are strong, but institution building is complex and extremely difficult. Institutional weaknesses allow elites to violate the democratic procedural rules, principles, and norms of the political game. Sympathetic to, but not uncritical of, historical and normative institutionalism, this book reveals the structural constraints and impediments that interfere with the process of democratic consolidation."--Jacket.

Beyond its central premise, the book can be read through the connected lenses of Nonfiction. Those themes offer useful points of attention as the characters, ideas, or world develop, especially where the book complicates the expectations of its primary category.

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What the reading experience may hold

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Themes to notice

Nonfiction

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Content notes

Catalog signals suggest warfare and conflict. These notes may not be complete; consult a publisher or reader-supplied guide when detailed warnings matter.

These notes are inferred from available catalog information and may not be complete. Check a publisher or reader-supplied guide if you need comprehensive warnings.

Reading experience

Dark tone · Steady pace

A comfortable full-length choice for steady daily reading.

Who it may suit

A good fit if…

Readers who want a thoughtful experience and enjoy noticing the connections beneath a book’s surface story.

At a glance

This book's DNA

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ToneDark
LuminousDark

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No plot details

Spoiler-Free Emotional Arc

A broad estimate of the book’s emotional rhythm, shown without story events or outcomes.

Spoiler-free
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PeakRelative emotional intensity
International Democracy Assistance for PeacebuildingSorpong Peou
Powerful5/5

This visualization is an interpretive estimate based on catalog description, categories, tone, pace, and content signals. It does not describe specific scenes.

Before you choose

A quick reading snapshot

Edition facts and catalog signals to help you decide whether this book fits what you want to read next.

Reading lengthA shorter read240 pages in this edition
Publication eraModernFirst published or edition dated 2007
Primary categoryNonfictionExplore similar books below
ISBN-13
978-0-2305-2137-7
Language
English
Edition record
OL10194434M
BookenDeX editorial lens

A more thoughtful way into this book

This guide uses the edition details and category signals above to help you choose deliberately. It does not replace the author's work or a full review.

Good to know

A comfortable full-length choice for steady daily reading.

Begin with its place in Nonfiction, then notice where the book resists that label.

Try this reading approach

Read for connection, not completion.

Mark one passage that sharpens the book's central concern and one that complicates it. That tension often reveals more than a quick summary.

Three questions to carry with you

  1. Whose perspective organizes the story, and whose perspective remains outside it?
  2. Which sources or lived experiences carry the author’s central argument?
  3. How does the book change the way you understand its larger subject?

Editorial framework by Wesley Bryan, BookenDeX Founder and Editor.