Books in English: G. Edward Griffin - One World Government and Collectivism

One World Government & Collectivism - G. Edward Griffin

Dear Friends,

I notice that you are a one of the rare young people in Vietnam who still reads and reflects on stuff going in this World. So I choose to share some of my readings for you to reflect on them.

Hope this is an eye-opening experience that might bring you some answers to the chaos you are witnessing around you. Or maybe you chose not to?!

We are all victims somehow of this situation, unless we take action to save ourselves, and people around us.

Best,

Anh Tho Andres

Founder and Owner of 

http://yourVietBooks.com

Books for Vietnam and about Vietnam

Skype: anhtho.andres

A brilliant work by G Edward Griffin, which deserves a place in everyone's library, living room, and in every school's curriculum. 

• What is collectivism?
• Who desires a collectivist world?
• How are collectivism and totalitarianism related?
• Does a one-world government have to be collectivist, or totalitarian?
• How does collectivism influence the thinking of individuals and governments? Where does the individual stand in such a system? 
• What about "group rights"? What does "rights" mean applied to a group?
• What is a "U. N. Peacekeeper"? What is their purpose?
• How does government secrecy fit into this?
• What kind of government might come from a "North American Union"?
• Is the One World Government a conspiracy?
• What are the components of a real conspiracy? Where is the use of the word "conspiracy" justified?
• What is the U. S. Constitution? What is its meaning for the American people?
• Why is the Constitution addressed from "We the People" to the government?
• Do legitimate governments rule, or protect?
• Do legitimate governments use force? What about martial law?
• What is "Cultural Marxism"? What does it have to do with collectivism?
• Are differences in culture a cause for war?
• What is the principle cause of war?
• What is the "Rothschild Formula"?
• What is the difefrence between killing and murder, as applied to war?
• What role does fiat money play in war?
• Why did the Founding Fathers want local militias, rather than a standing Federal army?
• How do corporations and governments evade responsibility for their actions? How is this immunity a problem?
• How do banks control our government? Why aren't the names of these banks and the individuals behind them known?
• What did the "New Deal" turn out to be?

FAIR USE NOTICE: This may contain copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in our efforts to advance understanding of criminal justice, political, human rights, economic, democracy, scientific, and social justice issues, etc. We believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use', you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.

(Source: https://archive.org/details/OneWorldGovernmentCollectivism-G.EdwardGriffin)


About YourVietbooks.com
YourVietBooks is a selection of books and articles on and about Vietnam. Categories include: Culture, History, Vietnam War, Politics, Biographies, Contemporary Vietnam, International Relations, Doing Business in Vietnam, Reference and Languages, Zen Buddhism, Philosophy, Art and Literature. Some articles are available only in English, French, German or Vietnamese. Our qualified and experienced translators can provide translations of e-books or articles on demand. Read more...

---

Samples of Translation | Our Translators | Need a quote? | Contact us

IR - One Definition A Day: MFN - Most Favoured Nation

IR - One Definition A Day:

MFN - Most Favoured Nation

This fundamental principle of international trade seeks to establish and advance the principle of equality of treatement and non-discrimination among trading states. The principle may be illustrated by taking a bilateral situation thus: under mfn principles, the parties will extend to each other the same advantages that they have extended to other third parties in the past, or are extending to others concurrently, or intend to extend in the future. Most favoured nation (mfn) principles are typically applied to tariffs and if these principles are applied consistently, they should lead to mutual and balanced tariff reductions.
It is generally agreed that the MFN principle began to be applied to international trade in the eighteenth century, reaching its peak in the last decades of the nineteenth. The First World War and the events thereafter led to the weakening of its application but with the formation of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) in 1947 a concerted attempt was made to resuscitate these ideas by writing them into the first article of GATT. At the same time GATT allows important exceptions to the mfn principle. Crucially trade blocs, free trade areas and common markets are all except. The emergence of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Developement (UNCTAD) in the 1960s further weakened the mfn principle because the Third World called for a system of positive discrimination in their favour to replace it. This call has been recognized system of preferences between advanced industrial countries (AICS) and the Third World.
The mfn principle remains a testament to those who believed in a liberal, equal, non-discriminator international trading system.

Read more on multilateralism, reciprocity


About YourVietbooks.com
YourVietBooks is a collection of books on Vietnam for Readers who are interested in Vietnam's History, Culture, Language, Economy, or Business. Most titles are in English, but some are only available in French or Vietnamese. We can provide interested parties an accurate translation of some parts of the books for your research purposes. Translations are done by YourVietnamExpert's qualified and experienced translators. contact@yourvietnamexpert.com

IR - One Definition A Day: AICs - North-South

IR - One Definition A Day: AICs - Advanced Industrial Countries

UN abbreviation for North America, Western Europe, Japan and Australasia. These states are often referred to simply as the North in documents such as the Brandt Report 1980.

The North
The term 'North' is a loose, portmanteau concept used in the advanced industrial countries (AICs). It is particularly popular in political economy and, in terms of developmental models, it may be regarded as being synonymous with the growth of the First World. Systems analysis tends to juxtapose it with the equally amorphous concept of the south. Indeed, the popular title of the first Brandt Report was 'North-South?'

The South
A collective noun used in the context of international political economy to identify a group of state actors. The first Brandt Report referred to the 'South' as broadly synonymous with 'developing' and 'poor' (Brandt, 1980, p. 31). The burden of the Brandt case was that the term was a dialectic antithesis to north and that the 'divide' could and should be bridged by Northern policies of self-interested cooperation. Gill and Law (1988) criticîze 'South' as contestable label but then proceed to use it, thereby selling the pass of conceptual clarity for the sake of convenience. Unlike the term 'Third World',  'South' is not derived from a particular ideological persuasion but it is rather a stipulative term for a typology of state action as the Brandt usage demonstrates.
The case against using the term at all in the analysis of international relations (IR) is that there is so much differentiation within the classification as to render it useless. At the top end of the range are the NICs as the archetype middle income growth-orientated economies. At the bottom end are located the 'famine belt' states of the fourth world. The end of the Cold War era in world politics and the collapse of communism has left the South with an absense of alternatives to the Northern model of market economics. In many parts of the South economic inefficiencies are compounded by political corruption and failure of leadership. Defections from Southern ranks will continue as individual states break out of the vicious cycle of low income-growing population-low growth. This will lead to an increasing fragmentation of Southern solidarity. The nightmare scenario for the rump of the South may be Northern indifference more than anything else.

North South
(à compléter)

About YourVietbooks.com
YourVietBooks is a collection of books on Vietnam for Readers who are interested in Vietnam's History, Culture, Language, Economy, or Business. Most titles are in English, but some are only available in French or Vietnamese. We can provide interested parties an accurate translation of some parts of the books for your research purposes. Translations are done by YourVietnamExpert's qualified and experienced translators. contact@yourvietnamexpert.com

IR - One Definition A Day: Bretton Woods System

IR - One Definition A Day : Bretton Woods

A series of multilateral agreements on international economic relations were reached at Bretton Woods (BW/US) in July 1944 under the aegis of the embryo UN. Forty-four states agreed to a Final Act establishing an IMF and an International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD). The proposals that were discussed at BW were the outcome of a series of bilateral nogotiations conducted between the US and the UK over the previous two years. The IBRD was described by the London Economist in 1945 as a 'much simpler project which has attracted neither much discussion nor much hostility...'. 

The IMF, on the other hand, was from its inception more controversial. The two states concerned with these preliminaries, the US the UK had ratehr divergent ideas about the future monetary regime. These differences were made public in, respectively, the White Plan, originating in the US Treasury, and the Keynes Plan, originating in the UK Treasury. White envisaged a Stabilisation Fund made up entirely of contributions from member states. Keynes envisaged a Clearing Union based on the overdraft principle and employing a new unit of account - the 'bancor'. Whereas the total available liquidity remained constant under White - so that drawing rights equalled liabilities - in the Keynes scheme additional liquidity could be pumped into the system to enable debtor states to overdraw. Conversely, creditor states would provide the main collateral in this arrangement.

The Anglo-American differences over the putative IMF are sometimes peresented as the conservative versus the radical views of the future. It should be noted, however, that both schemes tended to reflect the perceived national interests of the parties advocating them. In the event, the US bargaining position was more credible and the Bretton Woods conference produced a fund which bore a close family resemblance to the White Plan.

The term 'Bretton Woods system' is often used to refer to these two institutions and to the regimes established. Both have changed considerably since their inception. Accordingly, the reference to 'Bretton Woods' is of historical, rather than contemporary, validity.


(Source: wikipedia)


About YourVietbooks.com
YourVietBooks is a collection of books on Vietnam for Readers who are interested in Vietnam's History, Culture, Language, Economy, or Business. Most titles are in English, but some are only available in French or Vietnamese. We can provide interested parties an accurate translation of some parts of the books for your research purposes. Translations are done by YourVietnamExpert's qualified and experienced translators. contact@yourvietnamexpert.com

IR - One Definition A Day: Free Trade

IR - One Definition A Day: Free Trade (p. 183-184, Ref 1)

A trading system between two or more actors. The essence of free trade is that goods are imported without any restrictions, such as tariffs, being placed upon them. 

From an economic standpoint, free trade increases competition and efficiency. Producers have access to foreign markets, while consumers have access to imports. As a result of free trade the greater specialisation occurs in economic activity throughout the system. Individual members become less self-sufficient and more dependent upon others. Consequently, free trade is often associated with the growth of interdependence among actors. As a system of organising economic relations it may be directly contrasted with autarky or self-sufficiency.
The advocacy of free trade is usually associated with economic liberalism, at least in its classical phase. Many of these ideas were resuscitated after 1945 under the Bretton Woodssystem of international economic relations. Under the hegemonial influence of the United States, the major institutional framework for post-war relations was established. 

Similarly the later negotiations for an international trade regime, under the defunct International Trade Organisation (ITO), and the substitute General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) reflected the same liberal free trade philosophy. The same outlook influenced the Marshall Plan and post-war tariff-cutting negotiations under GATT. Free trade regimes have been most successful in manufacturing (secondary) sectors of economic activity. Agricultural production has rarely been truly free whilst free trade in service industries is technically difficult to implement. As a result the call for 'fair trade' as opposed to free trade is increasingly heard in these sectors.

The philosophical assumptions behind free trade have been criticized by the compensatory liberals and others. The rise of the Third World has thrown these doubts into sharp relief because the alleged shortcomings are not simply a matter of intellectual fashion or preference. Writers such as Prebisch (1964) have argued that if terms of trade penalize certain economies a system of free trade will leave some states permanently at a disadvantage. If those penalized are those that can least afford it, then free trade can exacerbate and widen inequalities within the system. Demands for a free trade regime that ignore such structural inequalities have been opposed by the Third World. 

The New International Economic Order (NIEO) and the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) have been used by this constituency to press for changes in the trade regime that will recognize and compensate for these difficulties.


(Source: Ref 1, Dictionary of IR, Penguin Reference)



About YourVietbooks.com
YourVietBooks is a collection of books on Vietnam for Readers who are interested in Vietnam's History, Culture, Language, Economy, or Business. Most titles are in English, but some are only available in French or Vietnamese. We can provide interested parties an accurate translation of some parts of the books for your research purposes. Translations are done by YourVietnamExpert's qualified and experienced translators. contact@yourvietnamexpert.com

IR - One Definition A Day: Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF)

IR - One Definition A Day: Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) - Doctors Without Borders

Established in 1971 by a group of former International Red Cross (IRC) medics, MSF is now the world's largest non-governmental organization (NGO) providing emergency medical relief. Consisting mainly of doctors, nurses, surgeons and logistical experts it has six operational sections in Europe and twelve branches world-wide. It is an independent body but it often works in conjunction with other humanitarian agencies, notably the IRC and the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR). It maintains a strictly impartial status and believes in the cosmopolitan notion of an absolute right to humanitarian assistance. It scorns the Westphalian principle of non-intervention and, if necessary, is prepared to work clandestinely with people in need, and to speak out publicly against human rights abusers. Apart from providing medical refief in man-made conflicts or in natural emergencies, the bulk of MSF work is in primary health care. It is therefore not a one-shot operation; an important part of its remit is reconstruction and long-term amelioration of local conditions. In 1997 the MSF's largest relief effort was in Rwanda where it had 360 expatriate volunteers and over 1'500 support staff in Burundi, Tanzania, and Zaire. Other recent major emergency missions include Bosnia, Angola, Sudan and Afghanistan. 


ONE DEFINITION A DAY is a campaign by YourVietBooks.com to encourage young Vietnamese talents to practise their translation skills and learn more on Vietnam's Culture, the Land and the People.

Vietnamese translation: Volunteers are welcome to contribute their translated version of today's DEFINITION in the 'comments' below.

About YourVietbooks.com
YourVietBooks is a collection of books on Vietnam for Readers who are interested in Vietnam's History, Culture, Language, Economy, or Business. Most titles are in English, but some are only available in French or Vietnamese. We can provide interested parties an accurate translation of some parts of the books for your research purposes. Translations are done by YourVietnamExpert's qualified and experienced translators. contact@yourvietnamexpert.com

IR - One Definition A Day: Neutrality

IR - One Definition A Day: Neutrality

Unlike neutralism with which it is often confused, neutrality is a legal concept which involves established rights and duties, both for the state which refrains from taking part in a war and for the belligerents themselves. 

Like other international legal concepts, the laws of neutrality were formed mainly by treaties in the 17th and 18th centuries, subsequently entered customary law and were then codified by judicial rulings and international conventions in the 19th and 20th centuries. Under the UN Charter, although neutrality is recognized no member can assume the posture of a neutral if the security council has sanctioned a proposed action against an aggressor. In this sense, it can conflict with notions of the Just War. 

Generally, a state is presumed neutral if by word or deed it has not declared support for one or other of the belligerents. In that case, certain specific rights and duties are delineated. For example, belligerents must not violate the territorial integrity of neutrals. Their commercial activities on land, sea and in the air are to be respected so long as they are sanctioned by international law. In return, neutrals are to remain impartial, they are not to aid any of the belligerents directly or indirectly and they are expected not to allow their citizens to do so. 

In particular, they should not permit neutral territory to be used for war purposes. Clearly these rights are always enjoyed precariously and neutrality must not be confused with demilitarization. In fact, because of the conditions imposed by international law, neutrality involves the ability to defend one's territorial integrity.

Neutrality can be proclaimed in unilateral declarations, as the US did in 1793, but also in multilateral treaties. In 1815, for example, The Perpertual Neutrality of Switzerland was guaranteed by the Congress of Vienna. This was later reaffirmed by the Versailles Treaty in 1919, and by the League of Nations in 1933. In 1830 the London Conference proclaimed the neutrality of Belgium (it was in violation of this that the UK formally entered the First World War). 

In 1907 the Second International Hague Peace Conference reaffirmed the territorial inviolability of neutrals and codified their rights and obligations at sea. Difficult areas in this respect involve the laws of blockade, the definition of contraband and the whole process of neutral shipping plying between ports of the belligerents. The issues of trade and commerce are notoriously thorny and the general rule of thumb is encapsulated in the phrase notoriously 'free ships give freedom to goods'. 

In other words, the nationality of a ship determines the status of its cargo. Enemy goods on a neutral ship, if they do not fall into the category of contraband, are thus not subject to seizure. However, as with so many things 'contraband' often lies in the eye of the beholder, and belligerents have rarely hesitated to intervene if there is any possibility at all of neutral activity giving aid and succour to the enemy. 

The rights of neutrality have been largely ignored in both World Wars and few states - with the continuing exceptions of Switzerland and Sweden - saw neutrality as a viable policy for maintaining independence. In total or nuclear war conditions, neutrality appears a very quaint proposition. However, in 1955 the Austrian Peace Treaty provided for the perpetual neutralization of Austria. Although technically this was self-neutralization, it was directly promoted by the Soviet Union and agreed to by the United States, the United Kingdom and France. The extent of Austrian autonomy rather than mere acquiescence in this regard is difficult to assess.

Other concepts associated with neutrality are 'neutral territories' and 'neutral zones'. The former usually refers to uninhabited territories that divide two states and which are under joint supervision, for example, the desert territory on the borders of the Iraq and Saudi Arabia or that between Saudi Arabia and Kuwait (which was in fact divided in 1965 after the discovery of oil pools). 'Neutral zones' refer to sanitary or security zones formed during a war, to protect civilian populations under the supervision of the International Red Cross. 

These were first established at Madrid during the Spanish Civil War of 1936 and have since become common practice especially in conflicts in the Middle East. Article 14 of the Geneva Convention of 1949 provided for the establishment and recognition of sanitary and security zones which were specifically designated for the wounded and the sick (whether they were combatants or non-combatants) and for the protection of civilian populations. In similar fashion, 'safe havens' were declared by the UN and the Allies in Bosnia and Iraq respectively during the conflicts in Yugoslavia and the Persian Gulf War.


(Source: Wikipedia)

About YourVietbooks.com
YourVietBooks is a collection of books on Vietnam for Readers who are interested in Vietnam's History, Culture, Language, Economy, or Business. Most titles are in English, but some are only available in French or Vietnamese. We can provide interested parties an accurate translation of some parts of the books for your research purposes. Translations are done by YourVietnamExpert's qualified and experienced translators. contact@yourvietnamexpert.com

IR - One Definition A Day: New World Order (NWO)

IR - One Definition A Day: New World Order (NWO), (p. 371, Ref. 1)

In contemporary usage the phrase is associated with President George Bush who popularized it in the aftermath of the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait on 2 August 1990. Bush was anxious that the American reaction to this act of aggression should not be, or be seen to be a unilateral one, but should be viewed in the context of a re-emergence of collective security in the post Cold War era. In a speech to a joint session of both houses of Congress on 11 September 1990, President Bush outlined five 'simple principles' which should form the framework of an evolving international order: 'Out of these troubled times, our fifth objective - a new world order - can emerge: a new era - freer from the threat of terror, stronger in the pursuit of justice and more secure in the quest for peace, an era in which the nations of the world, East and West, North and South, can prosper and live in harmony. 

As this quotation indicates, President Bush's conception of the NWO did not rise much above the rhetorical and it clearly lacked operational precision (what's new? which world? whose order?) but most analysts argued that at the very least the phrase referred to greater power cooperation, a strengthening of the United Nations and a more robust role for international law. 

Many in the triumphalist West believed that with positive US leadership a new more stable and more just international order could arise out of the straitjacket of Cold War rivalry and hostility. Although the term is associated in the popular mind with the Persian Gulf war, the ideas it embodies are by no means new; calls for a 'new world order' have regularly accompanied significant events - usually the ending of general wars - in international relations. Similar calls were made in 1815, 1918 and 1945 - 46. In essence, these ideas are a re-embodiment of traditional idealist or Kantian liberal notions concerning inter-state cooperation, perpetual peace and harmony of interests.

The remarkably events in world politics between nineteen eighty-nine and the early 1990s led many to believe that international relations was now in a period of profound transformation. The collapse of communism in Eastern Europe, the demise of the Soviet Union, the end of the Warsaw Pact, the unification of Germany and the ending of apartheid in South Africa were events that encouraged the idea that a 'new age' of international relations had arrived. Among the elements associated with this supposed transformation are increased evidence of interdependence and cooperation, globalisation, integration, regionalism, the disutility of military force and importantly, a possible new role for the UN. Indeed, much of the discussion of a NWO centered on reforming the UN, strenghthening the machinery for collective action and laying down the groundwork for global governance. 

For optimists therefore the 1989-91 period marked a watershed in world politics, producing conditions of unheard of political, economic and military cooperation. Pessimists, (usually drawn from the realist/neorealist perspective) have taken a much less sanguine view. Indeed one analyst has suggested that the end of the Cold War has released long-repressed ethnic and communal conflicts on a global scale and that far from eradicating conflict altogether, the NWO will be characterized by a clash of civilization, of which the conflict in ex-Yuguoslavia is but a prelude. The proliferation of nuclear weapons accompanied by failed states, resource wars and environmental decay may in fact make the original Cold War something that 'we will soon miss' (Mearsheimer, 1990). 

For realists NWOs are always false dawns since continuity not change is the fundamental feature of international relations. On this view, there are no grounds to assume that the future will be any better than the past.

View New International Economic Order (coming up)

(Source: Penguin Dictionary of IR)

About YourVietbooks.com

YourVietBooks is a collection of books on Vietnam for Readers who are interested in Vietnam's History, Culture, Language, Economy, or Business. Most titles are in English, but some are only available in French or Vietnamese. We can provide interested parties an accurate translation of some parts of the books for your research purposes. Translations are done by YourVietnamExpert's qualified and experienced translators. contact@yourvietnamexpert.com

IR - One Definition A Day: Third World

IR - One Definition A Day

Third World

A portmanteau term for those states in Central and South America, Africa, the Middle East, Asia (excepting Japan) and the Pacific islands (excepting Australia and New Zealand) which have experienced decolonisation over the last two centuries. The term 'Third World' is an anglicized rendition of the French 'Tiers-Monde' popularized in the 1950s by writers such as Georges Balandier and Alfred Sauvy. The Third World originally stood in contradistinction to the 'First World' (of capitalist liberal democracy) and the Second World (of command economic planning), but with the collapse of communism the trichotomy has lost much of its significance. The retention of the term 'Third World' although difficult to justify in logic perhaps, is testimony to the custom and usage of thirty years and the enduring significance of the Cold War ideological debates. China was always marginalised by the idea of Third World. Possessing many of the attributes of the typical Third World state, ideology ruled China out of all identification. Also at the margin were Israel and South Africa, geographically and historically within the meaning of the term but nevertheless regarded as near pariahs on ideological grounds.

Although the Third World has shaken off the formal political control of colonialism, legacies of the past remain. Thus the actual territorial dimensions of many Third World states, notably in Africa, are the results of colonialist cartographers and political geographers. As a consequence of this arbitrary demarcation, many states in the Third World are ethically heterogeneous.Ethnic nationalism, as a centrifugal tendency working against the centripetal state nationalism, is a divisive factor in these states as a result.

Marxist-inclined analyses of international relations deny that the formal granting of independence made any substantial difference to the relative power positions of the Third World vis-à-vis the First World - wherein, according to Marxists, imperialism arose. In particular the considerable economic power of the AICs of the First World is a determining factor in these relations. Assisting First World domination are the multinational corporations (MNCs) which function as conduits for this influence. many of the examples that inform this view are taken from latin American experience, and it would appear that a comprador middle class has developed in the region to provide a linkage with the dominant economic interests in the First World. Latin America may not be typical, however, and in other parts of the Third Wolrd, notably in Asia, a more nationalist bourgeoisie has developed. In the most dynamic NICs, indeed, countervailing corporative growth can counterbalance the economic domination of First World interests.

As far as intergovernmental relations are concerned, the Third World has responded to this domination trhough organisations such as OPEC and UNCTAD by making a number of demands under the new international economic order initiative. The Third World states have also used their majority membership of organisations like the UN to call for closer control and supervision to be exerciced of MNCs. Again they have campaigned through UNCTAD for the abandonment of the Bretton Woods system of non-discrimnation in favour of trade preferences aimed at assisting their development goals.

In the military-security issue area the Third World states have often faced significant problems in managing their national security. The centrifugal ethnic tendencies referred to above have in extreme cases produced the disintegration of states (for example Pakistan) or significant and damaging civil strife. Additionally, with such notable exceptions as India affords, many Third World states lacked the habits of the heart to ensure effective governance of their states. The terms 'quasi-state' has been coined to identify this problem. The cold war environment into which these states had to conduct their foreign policies probably exacerbated these problems. From the Truman Doctrine onwards, all that Third World leaderships had to show to engage US in Military AID arrangements was the presence of an internal/external threat that could plausibly be perceived as communist. 
Interventionalist policies have not been the prerogative of the First or Second Worlds of course. States within the Third World have been prompted to intervene in a variety of military-securit issue areas. Ths Vietnam, India, Lybia, Tanzania, Cuba and Nigeria have shown a willingness towards internation in regional conflict situations. The Persian Gulf War's proximate cause was Iraqi intervention and annexation of neighbouring Kuwait, whilst Syrian intervention in the Lebanon altered the communal balance significantly. 

The end of the Cold War era in world politics has affected both the position and the policies of the Third World states. Indeed it has substantially altered the ideological assumptions that might be called 'Third Worldism'. The self destruction of the Second World has at one and the same time removed a viable alternative 'model' of national economic development and substantially reduced the intrinsic importance of the Third World in First World considerations. Market orientated approaches underpinned by a belief in economic liberalism can now be given full scope and significance.



About YourVietbooks.com
YourVietBooks is a collection of books on Vietnam for Readers who are interested in Vietnam's History, Culture, Language, Economy, or Business. Most titles are in English, but some are only available in French or Vietnamese. We can provide interested parties an accurate translation of some parts of the books for your research purposes. Translations are done by YourVietnamExpert's qualified and experienced translators. contact@yourvietnamexpert.com

IR - One Definition A Day: First World

IR - One Definition A Day: First World

As the word 'First' implies this categorisation refers to those states that were historically in the vanquard of the modernisation process following the Industrial Revolution that commenced in eighteenth-century Britain. 

As a collective expression the terms 'First World' and 'Advanced Industrial Countries' (AIC) are coterminous. The occurence of the Cold War in mid-twentieth-century international relations led to the term taking on a more relativist connotation. It became a requirement of popular analysis to contrast the First World with the Second (meaning the communist states) and eventually the 'Third World'. The end of the Cold War, the collapse of communism and the weakening of the viability of the concept of Third Worldism has had a feedback effect upon the idea of the First World.

Historically the term probably retains relevance as a means of identifying a group of states that espoused capitalism and economic liberalism. In the account of this development change occured as a result of internal processes rather than external pressures. Economic growth led to the developoment of a bourgeoisie and to demands for political participation to be broadened to accomodate these new classes. 

Scientific innovation and technoligical change are important features of these societies and again they tend to be in the vanquard of most of these changes. The multinational corporation (MNC) is the unique non-governmental creation of the First World's value system and it has been the vehicle or transmission belt for distributing these values to the rest of the system. There is growing evidence that the template of First Worldism is being reassessed from within as so-called 'a quality of life' considerations are producing a possible paradigm shift towards more sustainable development. 


(Source: wikipedia)

About YourVietbooks.com
YourVietBooks is a collection of books on Vietnam for Readers who are interested in Vietnam's History, Culture, Language, Economy, or Business. Most titles are in English, but some are only available in French or Vietnamese. We can provide interested parties an accurate translation of some parts of the books for your research purposes. Translations are done by YourVietnamExpert's qualified and experienced translators. contact@yourvietnamexpert.com

IR - One Definition A Day : BEMs (Big Emerging Markets)

IR - One Definition A Day:  BEMs or Big Emerging Markets (p. 50, Ref. 1)

These are ten states identifed by the US Department of Commerce in 1994 as potential growth points within the international Economy.

The ten are: China, Indonesia, India, South Korea, Mexico, Argentina, Brazil, South Africa, Poland and Turkey.

The stipulation of these BEMs has a number of repercussions at both the international system and the foreign policy levels. It further weakens the value of such catch-all terms as 'South' and 'Third World'. Like the term NIC and the colloquial 'Asian Tigers', it shows that a group of states previously thought of as being in the Third World (or even the Second World in the case of Poland) have now been promoted into some higher division. 

It also reinforces the pervasive influence of economic liberalism as arguably a dominant paradigm in international relations since these states are without question following market orientated paths to development. At the foreign policy level it shows how with the end of the Cold War, the USA is no longer pursuing its foreign policy interests in a bipolar framework.

(Source: Penguin Dictionary of IR)

About YourVietbooks.com
YourVietBooks is a collection of books on Vietnam for Readers who are interested in Vietnam's History, Culture, Language, Economy, or Business. Most titles are in English, but some are only available in French or Vietnamese. We can provide interested parties an accurate translation of some parts of the books for your research purposes. Translations are done by YourVietnamExpert's qualified and experienced translators. contact@yourvietnamexpert.com

IR - One Definition A Day: NIC (Newly Industrialized/Industrializing Country)

 IR - One Definition A Day: NIC - Newly Industrialized/Industrializing Country (p. 372, réf 1)

NIC is an acronym for Newly Industrialized / Industrializing Country (both terms are found in the literature). 

There is some debate and discrepancy about the membership of this grouping but four unequivocal NICs can be identified in the region of East Asia: South Korea, Taiwan, Hongkong and Singapore. Other putative NICs in other regions of the system are referred to below. In passing it should also be noted that of the above four, Hongkong is sui generis. Its status was that of a dependent territory, not a state: it has now been repatriated to China. Nor does its undoubted economic prosperity make it typical of the NICs. Unlike the other three, Hongkong has developed as a key financial and business centre, playing an entrepôt role vis-à-vis China and East Asia in general.

Notwithstanding the Hongkong case, the NICs have been able to expand their manufacturing sectors because they have enjoyed advantegeous comparative costs vis-à-vis the market leaders, the advanced industrial countries (AICs). They have a high level of entrepreneurial skill amonst their populations, an open economy regarding foreign invesetment and stable, if undemocratic, potlitical regimes. 

The emergence of the NICs exemplifies a real shift in productive resources from the North to selected sites in the South. Typical examples of manufacturing growth can be cited in such fields as: cars and trucks, consumer electrical goods, shipbuilding, steels and textiles. Among Third World states the NICs stand out for their achievement of self-sustained, export-led economic growth. They have, moreover, avoided the kinds of debt problems associated with the recent economic performance of the putative NICs of Latin America. 

The evident success of these NICs has had two effects upon the relations in the field of political economy. First, their success has weakened the concept of Third World solidarity. Ideologically the NICs have achieved their impressive economic performance by applying the principles of economic liberalism and by following the example of Japan. They have been willing to see multinational companies (MNCs) investment in their economies and have often facilitated such capital flows by offering a permissive taxation regime to corporations. Their political systems, if stable, have poor human rights records and limited and restricted opportunities for participation. 

The second consequence of NIC success has been that it has provoked a backlash amongst the AICs. One form this has taken has been for increases in protectionism on the grounds that 'cheap' imports are flooding into home markets from these areas. A second response, particularly favoured in the United States, is to argue that the NICs have 'graduated' into the first division and that henceforth they should cease to regard themselves, or be regarded by others as Third World states requireing special consideration. Institutionally their appropirate destination would seem to be the Organisation for Econocomic Cooperation and Development (OECD) according to this perception.

Four unequivocal NICs were identifed earlier. Overlapping membership with the colloquial Asian Tigers is evident. 

Putative membership for the next decade and the new century must include many - if not all- of the recently identified big emerging markets (BEMs).

(Source: Dict Penguin IR)

About YourVietbooks.com

YourVietBooks is a collection of books on Vietnam for Readers who are interested in Vietnam's History, Culture, Language, Economy, or Business. Most titles are in English, but some are only available in French or Vietnamese. We can provide interested parties an accurate translation of some parts of the books for your research purposes. Translations are done by YourVietnamExpert's qualified and experienced translators. contact@yourvietnamexpert.com

IR - One Definition A Day: Quasi-States

IR - One Definition A Day: Quasi-states

A term used by Bull and Watson in the Expansion of International Society (1984) and later popularized by Robert H. Jackson (1990). It refers to ex-colonial states of Asia, Africa and Oceania, which through the process of decolonization have achieved 'juridical' statehood but lack many of the attibutes of 'empirical' statehood. They possess all the trappings and formal qualities of sovereign independent statehood - in particular the rights and responsibilities stemming from full membership of the international community - but are deficient in 'the political will, institutional authority and organized power to protect human rights or to provide sio-economic welfare' (p. 21, Jackson). In effect, quasi-states are states in name only; they are able to survive despite being insufficient, unstable and illegitimate by operational rules implicit in the new international order established after 1945. 

They are protected from the traditional fate of weak, fragmented states - foreign intervention - by new international norms such as anti-colonialism, the right to ex-colonial self-determination and racial sovereignty; ideas which are underwritten by the spread of egalitarian and democratic values which have their origins in Western social and political movements. In other words, they escape the classic security dilemna by virtue of the existence of a 'nanny' international society which fosters a culture of entitlement (to sovereignty and its attendant rights) and a culture of dependence (protection and foreign aid) which enables them to survive despite their malformations. 

Whereas in the past, such entities if they survived the power struggle at all were subordinated in the international system, today they enjoy equal status with all others. According to Jackson, quasi-states and their external support structures - which amount to the international communities version of 'affirmative action programmes' - reflect a new doctrine of 'negative sovereignty' which was created expressly for the independence of the Third World. Thus, post-colonial international society has sheltered these new entities from the harsh balance of power and sell-help rules associated with traditional criteria for state-creation and maintenance.

The dire consequences of economic inviability, social/ethnic fragmentation and human rights abuses have been highlighted by Robert Kaplan in his influential article 'The Coming Anarchy' (1964). For Kaplan, these quasi-states all too often become failed states. In the post-cold war period the pivotal rule which upholds quasi-states, the rule of non-intervention is now under threat. Increased global concern with human rights, the movement towards good governance, the increased popularity of the idea of humanitarian intervention as well as simple donor fatigue may serve to restrict the political space enjoyed by quasi-states. But for so long as the values of ex-colonial self-determination and sovereign equality are regarded as 'groundnorms' of post-Westphalian international relations these entities will continue to be a settled feature of the international landscape.

(Source: wikipedia)
About YourVietbooks.com
YourVietBooks is a collection of books on Vietnam for Readers who are interested in Vietnam's History, Culture, Language, Economy, or Business. Most titles are in English, but some are only available in French or Vietnamese. We can provide interested parties an accurate translation of some parts of the books for your research purposes. Translations are done by YourVietnamExpert's qualified and experienced translators. contact@yourvietnamexpert.com

IR - One Definition A Day: Fourth World

IR - One Definition A Day: Fourth World

A shorthand term for what the UN has called the least developed countries. These states are distinguished by very low per capital Gross Domestic Products (GDPs), low levels of literacy and low levels of manufacturing development. Geographically, the Fourth World is confined to two continents: Africa and Asia. 

In Africa, the so-called 'famine belt' stretches across the midlle of the continent from Mauritania to the Sudan; in this region the already vulnerable economies have recently been exacerbated by drought. In Asia, the paradigm Fourth World state is Bangladesh. States can slip into this category as a result of man-made rather than natural conditions. Afghanistan and Mozambique, states ravaged by revolutionary insurgency and forein intervention, can be cited here.

In terms of the global hierarchy of states, the Fourth World clearly refers to those actors at the margin of the system. The UN and agencies such as UNCTAD, as well as influential bodies of private interests such as the Brands Reports Commission, have sought to draw the attention of elites and attentive publics in the rest of the system to the plight of these states. See also quasi-states.


(Source: wikipedia)


About YourVietbooks.com
YourVietBooks is a collection of books on Vietnam for Readers who are interested in Vietnam's History, Culture, Language, Economy, or Business. Most titles are in English, but some are only available in French or Vietnamese. We can provide interested parties an accurate translation of some parts of the books for your research purposes. Translations are done by YourVietnamExpert's qualified and experienced translators. contact@yourvietnamexpert.com

IR - One Definition A Day: World Bank Group

IR - One Definition A Day: World Bank Group (p. 574 Ref. 1)

This collectivity consists of three intergovernmental organizations (IGOs): the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD), the International Development Association (IDA) and the International Finance Corporation. The first named, the IBRD, is popularly known as the World Bank. As the title implies the twin purposes of setting up the World Bank, as part of the Bretton Woods system of international economic institutions, was to facilitate the rebuilding of those essentially developed economies which had been shattered by war and to assist in the more basic task of economic development of the less developed countries (LDCs). 

The Bank is the twin organisation of the IMF and indeed membership of the Bank is restricted to states which are also members of the Fund. Like the Fund, the Bank has a system of weighted voting which gives power to effect outcomes to those states which make the greatest contributions. These contributions are, in fact, expressed as subscriptions to the Bank and these member state subscriptions are one of the main sources of Bank funds. In addition the Bank goes into the private capital markets to raise funds and these borrowings now constitute the largest source of Bank liquidity. Being heavily infused with commercial banking principles it comes as no surprise that the Bank's lending policy follows fairly strict commercial criteria.

The need for an institution that would provide 'soft' loans led to the establishment of the IDA in 1960. Like the Bank the IDA makes loans rather than grants and, again as with the IBRD, the would-be recipients are vetted beforehand. Loans are made to recipients to encourage the development of their infrastructure. Unlike the Bank, the IDA is totally dependent upon member states' contributions for its source of funds.

The International Finance Corporation (IFC) was established in 1956 to encourage the growth of private enterprise and entrepreuniral skills in the LDCs. It limits its participation in projects to a minority share-holding and has particularly concentrated on secondary or manufacturing sectors.

The conservative orthodoxy of the Bank and the extent of the depressed situation in the world economy (outside of North America) after 1947 meant that the Bank was something of a bystander. The US took steps through measures like the Marshall Plan, through its defence spending and through other aid measures to pump-prime the economies of the AICs by running dollar deficits. As the Cold War became the clear and present danger for American leaders from Truman onwards so the foreign assistance programme was seen as too crucial to military security interests to be left to multilateralism as represented by the Bank.

The collapse of the Bretton Woods system and the oil shocks of the 1970s did nothing to reduce the marginalization of the Bank in the context of aid flows. The Bank did play some role in the receycling of petrodollars through the Western system after the oil shocks. It was rather two developments in the 1980s which served to resuscitate the fortunes of the Bank. The demise of collectivist economic strategies in favour of privatization and free-market reforms meant that the principles of economic liberalism which is the dominant ideology of the Bank now found a more receptive environment - both intellectually and politically. Second, the debt crisis and the various proposals mooted to deal with it such as the Baker and Braddy Plans have brought the Bank in from the cold as a key player in administering their implementation.

(Source: Réf Penguin Dictionary of IR)

About YourVietbooks.com
YourVietBooks is a collection of books on Vietnam for Readers who are interested in Vietnam's History, Culture, Language, Economy, or Business. Most titles are in English, but some are only available in French or Vietnamese. We can provide interested parties an accurate translation of some parts of the books for your research purposes. Translations are done by YourVietnamExpert's qualified and experienced translators. contact@yourvietnamexpert.com

Sortir le Droit international du placard

Original Title in French: "Nous, peuples des Nations Unies", Sortir le Droit international du placard
By Authors Monique et Roland Weyl
Publisher CETIM @Centre Europe-Tiers Monde, 2008
ISBN: 978-2-88053-070-9
Proposed Translated Title: Reviving the International Public Law Spirit
By Anh Tho Andres @YourVietnamExpert.com

Backcover:
La Charte, à la base de la création de l'ONU en 1945, est un texte éminemment novateur, fondateur du Droit international contemporain.
Or, pratiquement aucune semaine ne se passe sans que les principes qui y ont été solennellement, et très sagement inscrits ne soient remis en cause dans la presse quotidienne. Le plus souvent sans doute par omission ou par ignorance et sous-évaluation du saut qualitatif que leur adoption a représenté dans l'histoire des relations internationales et du condensé d'expérience qu'elle recèle; probablement parfois plus subrepticement, en jouant sur l'émotion et une présentation biaisée d'événements, impudemment coupés de leur contexte.
Méconnus, souvent travestis et allégrement bafoués, ces principes sont pourtant vitaux pour la préservation de la paix et une condition indispensable à toute avancée dans la démocratisation des sociétés et des relations internationales.
Les auteurs appellent les citoyennes et citoyens à faire leurs les engagements proclamés par le Préambule de la Charte: "Nous, peuples des Nations Unies..."
Leur ouvrage, qui se veut didactique, est solidement argumenté. Il allie l'enthousiasme, pour l'élan donné à l'émancipation des peuples par la proclamation de la Charte et la création de l'ONU, à la sagesse d'un regard long sur l'histoire.

About the Author(s)
Juristes chevronnés, militants de longue date, Monique et Roland Weyl s'en alarment. Il est temps, il est urgent de "sortir le droit international du placard", clament-ils. Selon eux, l'Organisation des Nations Unies (ONU) est fondamentalement l'instrument des peuples. Encore faut-il que ces derniers se battent pour se la ré-approprier. Le droit n'est pas uniquement affaire de juristes, pas plus que la politique celle de politiciens et les relations internationales celles des Etats.

Contents
Table des matières

Introduction: Y a-t-il crise ou combat?

Première partie: Etat du Droit international contemporain, bilan et problématique

Chapitre 1: L'acte novateur, révolutionnaire et fondateur du Droit international contemporain: La Charte des Nations Unies

A. Le "droit international" d'antan

• Même la SDN

B. Le caractère novateur et fondateur de la Charte

• La vraie naissance du Droit international
• La suprématie de la Charte
• Une légalité internationale
• Subordination des traités

C. Le caractère révolutionnaire de la Charte

1. La portée philosophique de son Préambule

• Les peuples maîtres
• Des peuples multiples et égaux
• Souverains pour quoi faire?

2. Les règles et principes qui en découlent

• Egalité, respect mutuel et solution négociée des différends
• Non-ingérence

3. L'Organisation pour assurer le respect et la mise en oeuvre des règles

• Une Assemblée générale universelle et égalitaire
• Un Conseil de sécurité en contradiction
• Les raisons d'un privilège
• Un prétendu droit de veto
• Un Conseil aux compétences cependant limitées

4. Une mise en cohérence des peuples et des Etats

• Peuple et Etat, un rapport à clarifier
• Le rapport peuple-Etat, une alternative et un enjeu essentiels
• Chapitre 2
• Après 60 ans, un bilan contrasté

A. Observation préalable: l'influence du contexte géopolitique

• L'intermède des blocs
• Tout demeure rapport de forces

B. Les aspects positifs du bilan

1. Dans le domaine de la paix et du désarmement

• L'illégalité de l'arme nucléaire
• Définition de l'agression

2. Dans le domaine des droits humains
3. Dans le domaine des droits des peuples et du droit au développement
4. Enfin, les activités "périphériques"

C. Le déficit et les dérivés

1. Dans le domaine de la paix et du désarmement

• Mise en échec et instrumentalisation du Conseil de sécurité 
• Un article 26 au placard
• Echec à l'illégalité de l'arme nucléaire

2. Dans le domaine des droits humains et du droit au développement

• Et le droit à l'environnement?

Deuxième Partie: Quelles perspectives?

Chapitre 1: Réformer l'ONU?

A. Un légitime besoin de réforme

• Une réforme impossible
• Un mot d'ordre contre-productif
• La fuite en avant "peuple contre Organisation"
• La recette illusoire d'une autre organisation
• La recette illusoire de la "démocratie directe"
• Un parlement mondial?
• Valeur et limites des ONG: le public et le privé
• Pavé: Des partenariats qui en disent long

B. Faire fonctionner à l'ONU le "Nous, peuples"

Chapitre 2: la dénaturation de l'ONU et ses multiples voies

A. Les diverses formes de la dénaturation

• Marginalisation et minorisation
• Confiscation et instrumentalisation
• Occultations et tentatives d'interprétation perverse

B. La déviance de l'Organisation elle-même

• Le concert des Cinq
• Le drapeau de la "gouvernance"

 

C. La dénaturation dans la conscience publique

1. Les médias

• "L'ONU" puissance anonyme et mythique
• Une ONU de super-préfets

2. Les clercs

• L'ONU "entre autres", L'ONU sans la Charte, La Charte sans le Préambule
• Des idées ancrées à repenser

Chapitre 3: Du grain à moudre

A. Dans le domaine de la paix

1. Les problèmes posés par l'actualité

2. Les impératifs permanents, dans la durée

• Le désarmement
• Appliquer l'article 26
• Eradication des ADM
• La solution négociée des différentds
• Pavé: Tibet

B. Dans le domaine des droits humains

C. Dans le domaine des droits des peuples

• Le droit à l'indépendane et à l'autodétermination
• Le droit au développement
• Pas de misérabilisme
• Toujours la question du pouvoir

Chapitre 4: Les objectifs étant définis, quels moyens?

A. Les textes de légitimation

1. Dans le domaine de la paix

• La richesse des références
• Tout ajout n'est pas progrès
• A utiliser avec discernement

2. Dans le domaine des droits humains et des peuples et du droit au développement

B. Les instruments institutionnels

1. Ce qui existe

2. Des possibilités d'amélioration

• Gare aux progrès à reculons
• Pavé: Génocide
• Une commission permanente de bons offices
• Délimiter le veto

C. Pas de pouvoir politique sans pouvoir économique

• Nécessité d'un nouvel ordre économique international démocratique
• Des institutions hors ONU et contraire à la Charte

Chapitre 5: Le Droit International entre les mains des peuples

A. Pour vitaliser les principes et utiliser les institutions, quelle action des peuples?

B. Comment faire connaitre aux peuples leur pouvoir?

• D'abord lutter contre la désinformation
• La dénaturation des textes
• Un gigantesque chantier d'information

Annexes:

• Charte des Nations Unies
• Etats fondateurs (1945)
• Définition de l'agression
• (Résolution 3314-XXIX du 14 décembre 1974)
• Déclaration sur l'interdiction de l'emploi des armes nucléaires et thermonucléaires
• (Résolution 1653-XVI du 24 novembre 196

English Translation by Anh Tho Andres@YourVietnamExpert.com
German Translation
Vietnamese Translation
Italian Translation

 

About YourVietbooks.com 
YourVietBooks is a collection of books on Vietnam for Readers who are interested in Vietnam's History, Culture, Language, Economy, or Business. Most titles are in English, but some are only available in French or Vietnamese. We can provide interested parties an accurate translation of some parts of the books for your research purposes. Translations are done by YourVietnamExpert's qualified and experienced translators. contact@yourvietnamexpert.com

Indochina Discovery - One Definition a Day: Cambodia under Sihanouk

Indochina Discovery
Cambodia under Sihanouk
King Norodom Sihanouk abdicated in Mar., 1955, in order to enter politics; his father, Norodom Suramarit, succeeded him as monarch. Sihanouk subsequently formed the Popular Socialist party and served as premier. After Suramarit's death in 1960, the monarchy was represented by Sihanouk's mother, Queen Kossamak Nearireak. Sihanouk was installed in the new office of chief of state. Throughout the 1960s, Sihanouk struggled to keep Cambodia neutral as the neighboring countries of Laos and South Vietnam came under increasing Communist attack (see Vietnam War). Sihanouk permitted the use of Cambodian territory as a supply base and refuge by North Vietnamese and Viet Cong troops while accepting military aid from the United States to strengthen his forces against Communist infiltration.

In 1963, Sihanouk accused the United States of supporting antigovernment activities and renounced all U.S. aid. Following a series of border incidents involving South Vietnamese troops, Cambodia in 1965 severed diplomatic relations with the United States. Sihanouk remained on friendly terms with the Communist countries, especially Communist China, and established close relations with France. Economic conditions deteriorated after the renunciation of U.S. aid, and North Vietnamese and Viet Cong troops continued to infiltrate. In the spring of 1969 the United States instituted aerial attacks against Communist strongholds in Cambodia; these bombings, carefully kept secret from the American people, later became an important issue in U.S. politics. As Communist infiltration increased, Sihanouk began to turn more toward the West, and in July, 1969, diplomatic ties with the United States were restored. Relations with South Vietnam and Thailand, after years of border disputes and incidents, began to improve.

In Aug., 1969, Lt. Gen. Lon Nol, the defense minister and supreme commander of the army, became premier, with Sihanouk delegating considerable power to him. Sihanouk began negotiating for the removal of Viet Cong and North Vietnamese troops, who now numbered over 50,000 and occupied large areas of Cambodia. His actions, however, were not enough to ease the growing concern of many army leaders. Discontent with Sihanouk's rule was further heightened by rising inflation, ruinous financial policies, and governmental corruption and mismanagement. On Mar. 18, 1970, while Sihanouk was in Moscow seeking help against further North Vietnamese incursions, premier Lon Nol led a right-wing coup deposing Sihanouk as chief of state. Sihanouk subsequently set up a government-in-exile in Beijing. Soon after the coup, Cambodian troops began engaging Communist forces on Cambodian soil.

French translation by Anh Tho Andres @YourVietnamExpert.com
Vietnamese translation by Cuong Phan, Kim Hoang, Bich Hong, Bao Han
German translation by Han Dang-Klein
Italian translation by Phan Cong Danh
Japanese translation by Hong Anh


About YourVietbooks.comYourVietBooks is a collection of books on Vietnam for Readers who are interested in Vietnam's History, Culture, Language, Economy, or Business. Most titles are in English, but some are only available in French or Vietnamese. We can provide interested parties an accurate translation of some parts of the books for your research purposes. Translations are done by YourVietnamExpert's qualified and experienced translators. contact@yourvietnamexpert.com

Indochina Discovery - One Definition a Day: Cambodia

Indochina Discovery
Cambodia (kămbō`dēə), 
Khmer Kampuchea, officially Kingdom of Cambodia, constitutional monarchy (2005 est. pop. 13,607,000), 69,898 sq mi (181,035 sq km), SE Asia. Cambodia is bordered by Laos on the north, by Vietnam on the east, by the Gulf of Thailand on the south, and by Thailand on the west and north. Phnom Penh is the capital and largest city. Cambodia has 20 provinces and four municipalities.

Land and People
The heart of the country is a saucer-shaped, gently rolling alluvial plain drained by the Mekong River and shut off by mountain ranges; the Dangrek Mts. form the frontier with Thailand in the northwest and the Cardamom Mts. and the Elephant Range are in the southwest. About half the land is tropical forest. In general, Cambodia has a tropical monsoon climate, with the wet southwest monsoon occurring between November and April and the dry northeast monsoon the remainder of the year. During the rainy season the Mekong swells and backs into the Tônlé Sap (Great Lake), increasing the size of the lake almost threefold. The seasonal rise of the Mekong floods almost 400,000 acres (162,000 hectares) around the lake, leaving rich silt when the waters recede.

One of the few underpopulated countries of SE Asia, Cambodia is inhabited by Cambodians (or Khmers), who comprise about 90% of the population. There are large minorities of Vietnamese and Chinese; other ethnic groups include the Cham-Malays and the hill tribespeople. Theravada Buddhism is the state religion and about 95% of the people are Buddhists; the Cham-Malays are Muslims. Religious freedom is constitutionally guaranteed. Khmer is the official language, but French is widely used.

Economy
Cambodia is one of the world's poorest nations, its economy and its political life still suffering from the civil war that racked the country during the latter part of the 20th cent. Conditions are ideal for the cultivation of rice, by far the country's chief crop. Livestock raising (cattle, buffalo, poultry, and hogs) and extensive fishing supplement the diet. Corn, vegetables, fruits, peanuts, tobacco, cotton, and sugar palms are widely cultivated.

Rice and rubber are traditionally the principal exports of Cambodia, but exports fell sharply after the onset (1970) of the civil war, which put most of the rubber plantations out of operation. By the 1990s, however, rubber plantings had been undertaken as part of a national recovery program, and rubber and rice were again being exported. The fishing industry has also been revived, but some food shortages continue.

Until recently, inadequate transportation hampered exploitation of the country's vast forests, but by the mid-1990s timber had become the largest source of export income. Mineral resources are not abundant, but phosphate rock, limestone, semiprecious stones, and salt support important local mining operations. The country's industries are based primarily on the processing of rubber and agricultural, fish, and timber products. Cambodia is connected by road systems with Thailand, Laos, and Vietnam; waterways are an important supplement to the roads. The country has two rail lines, one extending from Phnom Penh to the Thai border and the other from Phnom Penh to Kompong Som (Sihanoukville).

Government
Under the constitution promulgated in 1993 and subsequently amended, Cambodia is a constitutional monarchy headed by a king; the king is chosen by the Royal Council of the Throne from the members of the royal family.

The bicameral parliament consists of a popularly elected National Assembly with at least 120 members and a Senate with no more than half the number of members of the National Assembly. Members of parliament serve five-year terms. The government is headed by a premier, who must have the support of two thirds of the members of the National Assembly.

History
Early History to Independence: The Funan empire was established in what is now Cambodia in the 1st cent. A.D. By the 3d cent. the Funanese, under the leadership of Fan Shih-man (reigned 205–25), had conquered their neighbors and extended their sway to the lower Mekong River. In the 4th cent., according to Chinese records, an Indian Brahmin extended his rule over Funan, introducing Hindu customs, the Indian legal code, and the alphabet of central India.

In the 6th cent. Khmers from the rival Chen-la state to the north overran Funan. With the rise of the Khmer Empire, Cambodia became dominant in SE Asia. Angkor, the capital of the Khmer empire, was one of the world's great architectural achievements. After the fall of the empire (15th cent.), however, Cambodia was the prey of stronger neighbors. To pressure from Siam on the western frontier was added in the 17th cent. pressure from Annam on the east; the kings of Siam and the lords of Hue alike asserted overlordship and claims to tribute. In the 18th cent. Cambodia lost three western provinces to Siam and the region of Cochin China to the Annamese.

Intrigue and wars on Cambodian soil continued into the 19th cent., and in 1854 the king of Cambodia appealed for French intervention. A French protectorate was formally established in 1863, and French influence was consolidated by a treaty in 1884. Cambodia became part of the Union of Indochina in 1887. In 1907 a French-Siamese treaty restored Cambodia's western provinces. In World War II, under Japanese occupation, Cambodia again briefly lost those provinces to Siam.

In Jan., 1946, France granted Cambodia self-government within the French Union; a constitution was promulgated in May, 1947. A treaty signed in 1949 raised the country's status to that of an associated state in the French Union, but limitations on the country's sovereignty persisted. King Norodom Sihanouk campaigned for complete independence, which was finally granted in 1953. Early in 1954, Communist Viet Minh troops from Vietnam invaded Cambodia. The Geneva Conference of 1954 led to an armistice providing for the withdrawal of all foreign forces from Cambodia. An agreement between France and Cambodia (Dec., 1954) severed the last vestige of French control over Cambodian policy. Cambodia withdrew from the French Union in 1955 and was admitted into the United Nations later that year.

French translation by Anh Tho Andres @YourVietnamExpert.com
Vietnamese translation by Cuong Phan, Kim Hoang, Bich Hong, Bao Han
German translation by Han Dang-Klein
Italian translation by Phan Cong Danh
Japanese translation by Hong Anh


About YourVietbooks.comYourVietBooks is a collection of books on Vietnam for Readers who are interested in Vietnam's History, Culture, Language, Economy, or Business. Most titles are in English, but some are only available in French or Vietnamese. We can provide interested parties an accurate translation of some parts of the books for your research purposes. Translations are done by YourVietnamExpert's qualified and experienced translators. contact@yourvietnamexpert.com