Call it the test-lab approach to conflict resolution. Cambodia was where the “peace through social engineering” model of international intervention, later adopted in Iraq and Afghanistan, was first tried in the early 1990s. After the Cold War, the United Nations wanted to be more pro-active in the resolution of many long-standing conflicts. Why not go in with massive amounts of aid and personnel, and rebuild these societies that had been so conflict-prone? Elections would be organized, a democratic life would take hold and conflicts would be resolved at the ballot box rather than through war.
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