Cambodia's New PM Has Made Repression Less Visible But More Sophisticated

The PM has made repression less visible and more sophisticated, strengthening the authoritarian system he inherited. When Hun Sen handed Cambodia’s premiership to his eldest son, Hun Manet, in August 2023, many diplomats and regional observers saw the succession as an opportunity for change. The carefully stage-managed handover fuelled hopes that a new generation of leaders, headed by a prime minister educated at West Point, New York University and the University of Bristol, might reopen Cambodia’s political space after decades of authoritarian rule.

Writing at the time, I argued that this optimism was misplaced, not because the leadership was changing, but because the political system was not. Western policymakers were eager to believe that a dynastic transfer might create room to recalibrate relations with Phnom Penh. But they failed to recognise how deeply the Cambodian People’s Party’s survival depended on preserving the very institutions that had forced opposition figures such as me into exile.