City Research Online

Abstract

Over the past few years, Cambodia has emerged as a major centre of the multi-billion-dollar online scam industry that is plaguing Southeast Asia. While the rise in cyber-scams has received significant media coverage, the local contexts that have allowed this industry to thrive have received less attention. This essay suggests that the rise in transnational organised crime in Cambodia reflects how deeply illicit money is embedded within the patronage system of the ruling Cambodian People’s Party and how it represents an evolution of the kind of corruption that has flourished during its more than four decades in power. By anchoring the analysis in historical patterns of corruption, the essay elucidates how closely illicit and legal capital are entwined within the country’s political economy.

Publication Type:	Article
Additional Information:	All issues are published under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial- NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0).
Subjects:	H Social Sciences > HB Economic Theory J Political Science > JA Political science (General)
Departments:	School of Policy & Global Affairs School of Policy & Global Affairs > International Politics
SWORD Depositor:	Symplectic Administrator

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