This thesis advances the view that, in an era of regionalization and globalization,
Cambodia, as a least developed country, can deliver sustained economic growth, social
stability and development if it can develop a coherent set of economic policies linked to the
development of a functional and credible legal system. The scope for ‘catch up’ or ‘skip the
learning curve’ is possible provided Cambodia can draw from the experiences - policies,
legal system and institutions that have been discovered, tried, tested and refined - of other
countries with similar background and with proven track records of rapid economic growth.
In the context of Asian economic growth and development over the past 30 years, policy
choices have been shown to be crucial for achieving high growth rates. Experience of the
high performing economies in Asia over the past decades is the best evidence that those
with relatively low income levels are, with the right policy and institutional choices, able to
catch up with the richer ones.
The Cambodian experience, tested against four hypotheses (convergence, divergence,
differentiation and irrelevance hypotheses), demonstrates a series of complex causal links
and effects intertwined between law, economics, politics, history and culture. Arguably, the
thesis seeks first to understand, through a multi-dimentional lens, la problématique of
Cambodia’s long term economic development, and second to provide a long term coherent
systemic solutions to the wider issues of nation building.
Certain Cambodia experiences have shown substantive convergence with those of the West
or other advanced Asian countries as reflected by the steady economic growth over the past
decade. Along that line the degree of catch-up is not only feasible but far exceeds those of
other similar countries. Other positive signs of development are prevalent throughout the
country. Other Cambodian experiences confirm the economic divergence hypothesis which
suggests that Cambodia’s catch-up efforts may be possible, though not necessarily along
international best practices, but under the influence of other major different factors typically
identified as culture, tradition, history and geo-politics. The overall economic expansion in
the last decade has not brought the so-called “quality of growth” where development has
had a positive impact on factors such as poverty and inequality, the role of the state,
democracy and freedom. The argument in favor of the economic differentiation hypothesis
suggests that while there are strong signs of policy catch-up in the area of economic