Emerging infectious diseases affect the health of animal and human populations, but the impact go... more Emerging infectious diseases affect the health of animal and human populations, but the impact goes beyond health as it extends to political, economic, social and environmental domains, as well as inter-state relations. Deeper understanding of these impacts aids public health authorities in their duties of protection and improvement of the health of their communities, promotion of healthy practices and research on disease, injury and threat prevention and mitigation. This empirical essay gathers insights from Cambodia, Hong Kong and Indonesia as they attempt to design and implement control and surveillance systems against avian influenza – an infectious disease.
International intervention liberated Cambodia from pariah state status in the early 1990s and lai... more International intervention liberated Cambodia from pariah state status in the early 1990s and laid the foundations for more peaceful, representative rule. Yet the country's social indicators and the integrity of its political institutions declined rapidly within a few short years, while inequality grew dramatically. Conducting an unflinching investigation into these developments, Sophal Ear reveals the pernicious effects of aid dependence and its perversion of Cambodian democracy. International intervention and foreign aid resulted in ...
ABSTRACT This is a heartbreaking book to review because so much of it is excellent reportage (for... more ABSTRACT This is a heartbreaking book to review because so much of it is excellent reportage (for example, the Preface and Chapters 2 to 16) while other parts of it lapse into an ugly Orientalist mould (e.g. the Introduction, Chapter 1, Chapter 17 and the Epilogue). The author, Joel Brinkley, is a journalist who won the Pulitzer Prize for International Reporting on Cambodia in 1979 for the Louisville Courier-Journal in Kentucky. It often reads breezily like a very long magazine article, pockmarked with factual blunders (many errors — such as a reference to a non-existent national oil company on page 347 or implying China invaded Vietnam in 1989 on page 62 — have already been uncovered by other reviewers: Douglas Gillison for Time, 11 April 2011; Elizabeth Becker for the San Francisco Chronicle, 17 April 2011; Sebastian Strangio for Asia Times, 13 May 2011; Geoffrey Cain for The Wall Street Journal, 19 May 2011; and Eng Kok-Thay for The Truth, June 2011). Reading Cambodia’s Curse, one cannot help but feel that Brinkley’s curmudgeonly style and dry commentary (often at the expense of his subject, the Cambodian people, though not always — he actually uses the word “Chinaman” on page 19 to describe Zhou Daguan a Chinese chronicler who visited in the thirteenth century) come across as arrogant and detached. His dependent variable is the failure of Cambodia to develop and democratize, and while he marshals several perfectly valid independent variables like impunity, domestic violence, deforestation, narcotics, corruption, elections, hunger, education, health, etc. he ultimately settles rather bafflingly on one that is least convincing: Cambodians are just cursed by a millennium of history and culture, and the Killing Fields of 1975 to 1979 only made it worse. Needless to say, this argument has won him few friends among Cambodia scholars and Cambodians because what he has essentially done is to insult everyone he has ever come in contact with while writing this book. On the positive side, Brinkley provides some quality reporting and condenses historical and political events into a readable format for most audiences, which reflects his strength as a journalist. All the while, he manages to capture the political tension of many events, such as the United Nations-organized election in 1993 and power struggles among Hun Sen, Prince Ranarridh and Sam Rainsy. Brinkley also delves into aid dependence and the donor culture of Cambodia. He highlights the recurring process of donors coming together, making empty threats, and then pledging more money than Cambodia requested, a problem of credibility that has been highlighted for several years now. A new approach is needed for genuine reform to occur, for example increasing domestic revenues (primarily tax collection) to increase accountability and national ownership. Bribe taxes (unofficial revenues), if converted to official revenues, could make up much of this difference. But solutions are not part of Brinkley’s dominant narrative, which is the hopelessness of Cambodia and its people. Although one of his inherent strengths is the ability to write engaging prose, fact-checking is not one of them. Aside from making sweeping generalizations about Cambodians’ alleged laziness and lack of ambition throughout the book, and occasionally obsessing over human cannibalism, several of his facts are just plain wrong (in the span of 47 continuous pages alone, I could find at least four errors): in 2005–06, more than two human rights activists were jailed (p. 267) unless he was referring only to Cambodian Center for Human Rights Director Kem Sokha and his deputy, there was also independent radio owner Mom Sonando, NGO head Yeng Virak (whom Brinkley interviewed), and labour union leader Rong Chhun; the site of the 1997 grenade attack against Sam Rainsy has not since been renamed “Hun Sen Park” (p. 268), Hun Sen Park is next door; the Phnom Penh Post was a fortnightly newspaper under Michael Hayes’ ownership, not a weekly paper (p. 302); Pol Pot did not die a free man (p. 314), he was under house arrest. A book riddled with errors unfortunately detracts from its seriousness and further erodes Brinkley’s credibility as someone who, after three decades, has returned to Cambodia for two summers and now claims to know all things...
Abstract In the wake of avian flu outbreaks in 2004, Cambodia received 45millionincommitmentsfrom... more Abstract In the wake of avian flu outbreaks in 2004, Cambodia received 45millionincommitmentsfrominternationaldo...,particularlyavianinfluenza(H5N1).Howcountriesleverageforeignaidtoaddresst....Cambodiaisaparticularlycompellingstudyinp...,national,andglobalneeds,andbecausethelevelofaidinCambodiarepres... 2.65 million per human case-a disproportionately high number when compared with neighbors Vietnam and Indonesia. This paper examines how the Cambodian government has made use of animal and human influenza funds to protect (or fail to protect) its citizens and the global ...
Abstract The research examines the application of local good governance (LGG) in the implementati... more Abstract The research examines the application of local good governance (LGG) in the implementation of rural infrastructure development planning (RIDP) and analyzes its strengths and limitations. Two communes with longer and shorter working experience in the application of LGG in RIDP, viz. Khnach Romeas (KR) and Prey Khpos (PK) in Battambang province were selected. The study covered six elements of LGG: rule of law, participation, accountability, transparency, responsiveness and effectiveness and efficiency. The ...
Mark Pfeifer's (2007) excellent descriptive overview of current demo... more Mark Pfeifer's (2007) excellent descriptive overview of current demographics of Southeast Asian American populations based on the most recent figures from the US Census and the Current Population Survey offers scholars of social science and public policy a golden opportunity to reflect on the diverse trajectories of the Cambodian, Hmong, Laotian, and Vietnamese communities as they integrate—for lack of a better word—into the salad bowl that is American society.
A serious student might refrain himself or herself from releasing this working draft before havin... more A serious student might refrain himself or herself from releasing this working draft before having made these important changes; yet, strangely, having read through L'economie du Cambodge these past few days, I feel that the major conclusions reached in "Cambodia's Economic Development and History: A Contribution to the Study of Cambodia's Economy" (dated March 22, 1995) would not be radically altered or substantively changed. Of course, there would have been added tons of new and relevant statistics, not to mention the wonderfully telling words of Prud'homme ...
Abstract. Part of a larger thesis that proposes an analytical framework known as the Standard Tot... more Abstract. Part of a larger thesis that proposes an analytical framework known as the Standard Total Academic View (STAV) on Cambodia, this essay examines the work of Gareth Porter and George Hildebrand in the context of the Khmer revolution of 1975-1978. Their book, entitled Cambodia: Starvation and Revolution (1976), was the first English-language book purporting to describe the events unfolding in Cambodia in 1975 and 1976. Using direct quotations from this work, Porter and Hildebrand are shown to have ...
... large part of the reason for the lack of understanding about the emergence of the ... 8 That ... more ... large part of the reason for the lack of understanding about the emergence of the ... 8 That a pandemic influenza strain has not yet emerged from the H5N1 virus currently circulating ... 4 AVIANINFLUENZA and safety as well as sustainable livelihoods; how to operate effectively in a ...
... Toward Universal Primary Education: Investments, Incentives, and Institutions Nancy Birdsall,... more ... Toward Universal Primary Education: Investments, Incentives, and Institutions Nancy Birdsall, Ruth Levine and Amina Ibrahim UN Millenium Project 2005, Task Force on ... Partnerships for Girls' Education Edited by Nitya Rao and Ines Smyth Oxfam GB 2005, ISBN 0 85598 513 5 ...
Emerging infectious diseases affect the health of animal and human populations, but the impact go... more Emerging infectious diseases affect the health of animal and human populations, but the impact goes beyond health as it extends to political, economic, social and environmental domains, as well as inter-state relations. Deeper understanding of these impacts aids public health authorities in their duties of protection and improvement of the health of their communities, promotion of healthy practices and research on disease, injury and threat prevention and mitigation. This empirical essay gathers insights from Cambodia, Hong Kong and Indonesia as they attempt to design and implement control and surveillance systems against avian influenza – an infectious disease.
International intervention liberated Cambodia from pariah state status in the early 1990s and lai... more International intervention liberated Cambodia from pariah state status in the early 1990s and laid the foundations for more peaceful, representative rule. Yet the country's social indicators and the integrity of its political institutions declined rapidly within a few short years, while inequality grew dramatically. Conducting an unflinching investigation into these developments, Sophal Ear reveals the pernicious effects of aid dependence and its perversion of Cambodian democracy. International intervention and foreign aid resulted in ...
ABSTRACT This is a heartbreaking book to review because so much of it is excellent reportage (for... more ABSTRACT This is a heartbreaking book to review because so much of it is excellent reportage (for example, the Preface and Chapters 2 to 16) while other parts of it lapse into an ugly Orientalist mould (e.g. the Introduction, Chapter 1, Chapter 17 and the Epilogue). The author, Joel Brinkley, is a journalist who won the Pulitzer Prize for International Reporting on Cambodia in 1979 for the Louisville Courier-Journal in Kentucky. It often reads breezily like a very long magazine article, pockmarked with factual blunders (many errors — such as a reference to a non-existent national oil company on page 347 or implying China invaded Vietnam in 1989 on page 62 — have already been uncovered by other reviewers: Douglas Gillison for Time, 11 April 2011; Elizabeth Becker for the San Francisco Chronicle, 17 April 2011; Sebastian Strangio for Asia Times, 13 May 2011; Geoffrey Cain for The Wall Street Journal, 19 May 2011; and Eng Kok-Thay for The Truth, June 2011). Reading Cambodia’s Curse, one cannot help but feel that Brinkley’s curmudgeonly style and dry commentary (often at the expense of his subject, the Cambodian people, though not always — he actually uses the word “Chinaman” on page 19 to describe Zhou Daguan a Chinese chronicler who visited in the thirteenth century) come across as arrogant and detached. His dependent variable is the failure of Cambodia to develop and democratize, and while he marshals several perfectly valid independent variables like impunity, domestic violence, deforestation, narcotics, corruption, elections, hunger, education, health, etc. he ultimately settles rather bafflingly on one that is least convincing: Cambodians are just cursed by a millennium of history and culture, and the Killing Fields of 1975 to 1979 only made it worse. Needless to say, this argument has won him few friends among Cambodia scholars and Cambodians because what he has essentially done is to insult everyone he has ever come in contact with while writing this book. On the positive side, Brinkley provides some quality reporting and condenses historical and political events into a readable format for most audiences, which reflects his strength as a journalist. All the while, he manages to capture the political tension of many events, such as the United Nations-organized election in 1993 and power struggles among Hun Sen, Prince Ranarridh and Sam Rainsy. Brinkley also delves into aid dependence and the donor culture of Cambodia. He highlights the recurring process of donors coming together, making empty threats, and then pledging more money than Cambodia requested, a problem of credibility that has been highlighted for several years now. A new approach is needed for genuine reform to occur, for example increasing domestic revenues (primarily tax collection) to increase accountability and national ownership. Bribe taxes (unofficial revenues), if converted to official revenues, could make up much of this difference. But solutions are not part of Brinkley’s dominant narrative, which is the hopelessness of Cambodia and its people. Although one of his inherent strengths is the ability to write engaging prose, fact-checking is not one of them. Aside from making sweeping generalizations about Cambodians’ alleged laziness and lack of ambition throughout the book, and occasionally obsessing over human cannibalism, several of his facts are just plain wrong (in the span of 47 continuous pages alone, I could find at least four errors): in 2005–06, more than two human rights activists were jailed (p. 267) unless he was referring only to Cambodian Center for Human Rights Director Kem Sokha and his deputy, there was also independent radio owner Mom Sonando, NGO head Yeng Virak (whom Brinkley interviewed), and labour union leader Rong Chhun; the site of the 1997 grenade attack against Sam Rainsy has not since been renamed “Hun Sen Park” (p. 268), Hun Sen Park is next door; the Phnom Penh Post was a fortnightly newspaper under Michael Hayes’ ownership, not a weekly paper (p. 302); Pol Pot did not die a free man (p. 314), he was under house arrest. A book riddled with errors unfortunately detracts from its seriousness and further erodes Brinkley’s credibility as someone who, after three decades, has returned to Cambodia for two summers and now claims to know all things...
Abstract In the wake of avian flu outbreaks in 2004, Cambodia received 45millionincommitmentsfrom... more Abstract In the wake of avian flu outbreaks in 2004, Cambodia received 45millionincommitmentsfrominternationaldo...,particularlyavianinfluenza(H5N1).Howcountriesleverageforeignaidtoaddresst....Cambodiaisaparticularlycompellingstudyinp...,national,andglobalneeds,andbecausethelevelofaidinCambodiarepres... 2.65 million per human case-a disproportionately high number when compared with neighbors Vietnam and Indonesia. This paper examines how the Cambodian government has made use of animal and human influenza funds to protect (or fail to protect) its citizens and the global ...
Abstract The research examines the application of local good governance (LGG) in the implementati... more Abstract The research examines the application of local good governance (LGG) in the implementation of rural infrastructure development planning (RIDP) and analyzes its strengths and limitations. Two communes with longer and shorter working experience in the application of LGG in RIDP, viz. Khnach Romeas (KR) and Prey Khpos (PK) in Battambang province were selected. The study covered six elements of LGG: rule of law, participation, accountability, transparency, responsiveness and effectiveness and efficiency. The ...
Mark Pfeifer's (2007) excellent descriptive overview of current demo... more Mark Pfeifer's (2007) excellent descriptive overview of current demographics of Southeast Asian American populations based on the most recent figures from the US Census and the Current Population Survey offers scholars of social science and public policy a golden opportunity to reflect on the diverse trajectories of the Cambodian, Hmong, Laotian, and Vietnamese communities as they integrate—for lack of a better word—into the salad bowl that is American society.
A serious student might refrain himself or herself from releasing this working draft before havin... more A serious student might refrain himself or herself from releasing this working draft before having made these important changes; yet, strangely, having read through L'economie du Cambodge these past few days, I feel that the major conclusions reached in "Cambodia's Economic Development and History: A Contribution to the Study of Cambodia's Economy" (dated March 22, 1995) would not be radically altered or substantively changed. Of course, there would have been added tons of new and relevant statistics, not to mention the wonderfully telling words of Prud'homme ...
Abstract. Part of a larger thesis that proposes an analytical framework known as the Standard Tot... more Abstract. Part of a larger thesis that proposes an analytical framework known as the Standard Total Academic View (STAV) on Cambodia, this essay examines the work of Gareth Porter and George Hildebrand in the context of the Khmer revolution of 1975-1978. Their book, entitled Cambodia: Starvation and Revolution (1976), was the first English-language book purporting to describe the events unfolding in Cambodia in 1975 and 1976. Using direct quotations from this work, Porter and Hildebrand are shown to have ...
... large part of the reason for the lack of understanding about the emergence of the ... 8 That ... more ... large part of the reason for the lack of understanding about the emergence of the ... 8 That a pandemic influenza strain has not yet emerged from the H5N1 virus currently circulating ... 4 AVIANINFLUENZA and safety as well as sustainable livelihoods; how to operate effectively in a ...
... Toward Universal Primary Education: Investments, Incentives, and Institutions Nancy Birdsall,... more ... Toward Universal Primary Education: Investments, Incentives, and Institutions Nancy Birdsall, Ruth Levine and Amina Ibrahim UN Millenium Project 2005, Task Force on ... Partnerships for Girls' Education Edited by Nitya Rao and Ines Smyth Oxfam GB 2005, ISBN 0 85598 513 5 ...
In the East African Community (EAC) region, there have been recurrent outbreaks of emerging infec... more In the East African Community (EAC) region, there have been recurrent outbreaks of emerging infectious diseases in the past three decades. These include Viral Hemorrhagic Fevers (such as a recent case of yellow fever in Uganda), Marburg fever, Ebola (in Uganda in July and August 2012, and in the Democratic Republic of the Congo in August and September 2012), and Rift Valley Fever (in Kenya in 2006/2007 and Tanzania and Burundi in 2007).
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Papers and Books by Sophal Ear