Endowed Chair Speaker Series

Abstract: 

Dr. Khenag Un explores the role that natural resources have play in Cambodian politics.  This talk covers the effects of natural resources and the resource curse during the transitionary phase of the Cambodian government following the United Nations intervention up till the 2008 Parliamentary elections.  The talk will also postulate what affect newfound oil discoveries in Cambodia might exert on the government in the future. 

Biography:

Dr. Kheang Un is currently a Visiting Fellow at the University of Louisville’s Center for Asian Democracy and on leave from his position as Assistant Director of the Center for Southeast Asian Studies and adjunct Professor of Political Science at Northern Illinois University.  He earned a Doctoral Degree in Political Science and Southeast Asian Studies from Northern Illinois University in 2004.  He is currently serving as research advisor to the Cambodia Development Resource Institute, a Board Member of Build Cambodia, a US based non-profitable organization, and an In-Country Coordinator for Tracking Development, a multi-disciplinary and multi-country project at Leiden University, examining the trajectory of development in Southeast Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa (2007-2011).  Dr. Un’s research interests are democracy, human rights, non-governmental organizations and political economy focusing on Cambodia and Uganda.  His publications have appeared in the Journal of Human Rights,  Asian Survey, Journal of Pacific Affairs, and Asian Perspective.  He is currently finishing a book manuscript Cambodia’s Hybrid Democracy: Neo-Patrimonialism, the State and Society, and co-editing a book, Economic Reform and Transformation in Cambodia (Nordic Institute for Asian Studies, in press).  He is also serving as guest co-editor for Asian Affairs: An American Review.  He has consulted for the World Bank, the Department for International Development of the United Kingdom, AusAID, UNDP, and the State Department of the United States.