WASHINGTON -- Official returns have confirmed a broad sweep of Cambodia's ruling party, the Cambodia People's Party, in the country's first local elections. Critics in the U.S. policy community cite these elections as proof that democracy has failed in Cambodia. By their measure, elections are the sole indicator of democracy, which is easily obtained by installing democratically minded leaders and banishing authoritarian incumbents. American views of foreign policy processes have long been framed in contests between heroes and bogeymen.
This rigid, if romantic, approach does not consider the dual challenges that Cambodia faces, of political development and recovery from a quarter century of internal conflict. Nor does it question whether the international intervention in Cambodia a decade ago, and its signature "transitional" election, have raised unrealistic expectations for democracy there. These are crucial issues, not only for Cambodia's political future but also for other countries, most notably Afghanistan, that are struggling with these simultaneous processes. Cambodia offers several lessons for Afghanistan, and for international efforts there:
* Democracy has a broader definition in postconflict societies. While Westerners often see elections as a precondition for democratization, Cambodians tend to look first to the improvement of civil liberties in everyday life. The most comprehensive survey of Cambodian political attitudes, commissioned by The Asia Foundation with support from the U.S. Agency for International Development, showed that only 3 percent of Cambodians associate democracy with elections. Freedoms of expression and association, neither of which existed in the Khmer Rouge era, are seen as more essential to the development of democracy in Cambodia. In countries that have suffered profound devastation, free and fair elections may be the culmination of the democratization process, rather than the commencement.