Bienvenue,
Bienvenidos, Swakum, Welcome to Sophal's New World !
You have reached my humble abode on the Internet courtesy of my alma mater,
the University of California,
Berkeley. 
In the late 1990s, I
was away from the Ivory Towers of academe, away from the
hypothetical,
stylized world of international macroeconomic models gone awry for a few
years, but I'm back! Having finished my PhD from Berkeley in May 2006, and completed a >Post-Doctoral
Fellowship in May 2007 in the Department
of Public Administration at the Maxwell
School of Syracuse University where I
taught PPA 756: Policy and Administration in Developing
Countries and did my own research, I am now an Assistant Professor in the Department of National
Security Affairs at the United States Naval
Postgraduate School in Monterey, California. And that's not all, on 7 July
2006, I married the lovely Chamnan Lim in
In January 2002, I started sharing one of my hidden passions: amateur
photography. where many of my 35mm pictures are archived online for
your viewing pleasure. There are nearly a thousand pictures (of
For the three years prior to 2002, I took almost ten thousand more pictures on trips to more than a dozen countries, including Algeria, Australia, Cambodia, Canada, China (including Hong Kong & Macau, SAR), Denmark, Finland, France, Israel, Italy, Japan, Mexico, New Zealand, the Philippines, Russia, Singapore, Sweden, the United Kingdom, and Palestine (West Bank & Gaza). I'm still working on putting about half of these online. As of May 2005, I have travelled to 35 countries and territories.
In July 1997, I took a breather and went, bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, into the so-called real world where people actually make money for a living and where there are no free homepages for life (like this one) nor free lunches for that matter. I was east of the Mississippi in Our Nation's Capital, working for el Banco Mundial, la Banque mondiale, the World Bank, whose mission it was "to reduce poverty and improve living standards through sustainable growth and investment in people." Today, the Bank's mission won't fit in a snappy sentence. It's become too unwieldy.
Established circa 1994 (well before my stint as an international bureaucrat and, as it so happens, in the same year as Amazon.com), this homepage is dedicated to liberty and the pursuit of happiness for all citizens of the world. As a more practical purpose, it serves as a repository of my own writings (rantings). In the summer of 1997, my home on the Internet was named a Freedom Homepage of the Week. And so begins my story...
As you can probably guess, I am originally from 
a year after the Maoists-inspired
communist Khmer Rouge took power. In an amazing and harrowing tale of survival,
my mother was able to get herself, my siblings, and yours truly, into
By 1978 we were newly minted Cambodian refugees in Valery Giscard
d'Estaing's 
So, in 1985, my family and I
moved to the New World (leaving childhood friends like Laetitia Valdez, the
freckled Franco-Greek girl from sixth grade, behind--whom I'm still trying to
find after two visits back to Meudon) to the land of milk and honey, sweet land
of liberty. I believe that this was a formative experience in shaping the way I
now view the world. The Cold War was still cold, and much of the world divided
by the hegemony of the
A graduate
of Berkeley High School and Willard
Junior High School, I entered UC Berkeley in the Fall of
1991. What an experience that was! Far from forgettable, Berkeley
gave me the will
to triumph over my own ignorance. In four short years I learned more and
wrote more passionately than I had ever done before. Economics and Political
Science never seemed so wonderfully exhilarating. On the
eve of graduation, I wrote that "Berkeley taught me to write, to count,
and most importantly to think." In short, I learned the value of
scholarship.
My life changed dramatically the following fall when I moved East to
attend
the Woodrow Wilson School of Public
and International Affairs at Princeton
University. On a full scholarship from the Woodrow Wilson National
Fellowship Foundation to do my Master
in Public Affairs degree, these two
years following Berkeley were challenging and filled with opportunities.
I came full circle when, in the 
summer
of 1996, I returned to Cambodia after a 20 year absence. I returned to
a Cambodia I never knew. Armed with a dozens rolls of film and 14
hours of
videotape, I created fresh memories and reminisce now of the "good old
days" that never were. Upon my return to Princeton, the ex-Monsieur
le Président de la République happened to visit for a
talk on accession to the European Union and the launch of the Euro
pursuant to the
Maastricht Treaty. I was able to get to within a particularly good earshot
of him, as a photographer took this picture. Patsy Schroeder can be seen
in the middle looking on, as if deeply interested in the saga of yet another
nameless, faceless Cambodian refugee.
John F. Kennedy, adapting fom Sun Tzu's >Art of War, once said: "Forgive your enemies, but never forget their names." For a dose of mortality and hope, visit the Digital Archive of Cambodian Holocaust Survivors where you can find a half-dozen stories from everyday folks who lived through one of the 20th Century's most barbaric experiences--life under the Khmer Rouge between 1975 and 1979. "When this you see, remember me." The Producer, Director, and Documentarian, Tiara Delgado, has made a wonderful 30-minute documentary in which my mom and I play a small part. Launched at the Silverlake Film Festival in early 2005 and narrated by Susan Sarandon, it's called "Fragile Hopes from the Killing Fields". But don't take my word for it, Todd David Schwartz of CBS Radio called it "Powerful and Eye Opening..." (Okay, I'll *try* not to let it get to my head ;-), but if I forget, please feel free to burst my bubble!). More recently, I spoke at TED2009 as a TED Fellow, an amazing experience. Watch my TEDTalk here and read my TED Blog Q&A here.
Over the years, I have published extensively on
SELECTED PUBLICATIONS AND PRESENTATIONS SINCE 1991
“Livelihoods
and Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza in
“Ο
Ιερός Κανόνας
των Ερυθρών
Χμερ” (translation from Greek: “The Holy Rule
of the Khmer Rouge” based on my undergraduate honors thesis “The
Khmer Rouge Cannon”), Libertarian Movement,
"Trade
and Commerce in Southeast Asia" (with Pierre van der Eng,
"The
Political Economy of Aid and Regime Legitimacy in Cambodia", in Joakim
Ojendal (University of Gothenburg) and Mona Lilja (University of Gothenburg),
eds. Beyond Democracy in Cambodia: Political Reconstruction in a
Post-Conflict Society, Series: Democracy in Asia | Volume: 12, Copenhagen:
NIAS Press, forthcoming June 2009.
“Topic 3: Governance, Fragility, and Failure:
Implications for Livelihoods”, [PDF Acrobat File] Getting Back to
Work: Rebuilding Livelihoods in Post-Conflict Environments Workshop, Center for
Stabilization and Reconstruction Studies, Naval Postgraduate School, Monterey,
CA, 27 April 2009.
“Sowing and Sewing Growth: The Political Economy of Rice
and Garments in Cambodia”, SCID Working Paper 384,
“Cambodia’s Victim Zero: Global and National
Responses to Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza”, [PDF Acrobat File]
The Political Economy of Avian Influenza: SE Asia country study workshop,
Lansdowne Place Hotel, Brighton, United Kingdom, 26-27 February 2009; also
presented at the Western Political Science Association Meeting, Panel 16. 01 -
At the Intersection of Policy Making and Administration, Hyatt Regency
“E-mail me if
you would like a FREE hardcopy.
“Escape from the Killing Fields”, [PDF Acrobat
File] TED University Talk delivered at TED2009,
“Reducing the ‘sweat’ from Cambodia’s
sweatshops”, [PDF Acrobat File] TED Fellows Talk delivered at
TED2009, Long Beach, CA, 3 February 2009.
“The Political Economy of Cambodia’s Growth: Rice
and Garments”, [PDF Acrobat File] Workshop on Cambodia’s Economic
Transformation, Sunway Hotel, Phnom Penh, Cambodia, 5-7 January 2009. This will
result in a book chapter by a similar title as the talk in a refereed volume by
Caroline Hughes (
"Cambodia", [PDF Acrobat File] in Ian Storey
and Lee Poh Onn, eds. Regional Outlook: Southeast Asia
2009-2010,
“Governance, Fragility, and Failure: Implications for
Livelihoods”, [PDF Acrobat File] Creating Jobs and Rebuilding
Livelihoods Workshop, Center for Stabilization and Reconstruction Studies,
Naval Postgraduate School, 27 October 2008. A report for the workshop is
available here [PDF Acrobat File].
"Poultry Sector Vision for Cambodia: Production", [PDF Acrobat File] Workshop on Avian Influenza Research Activities in Cambodia sponsored by Food and Agriculture of the United Nations, Sihanoukville, Cambodia, 8, 9, and 10 October 2008.
"Cambodia’s Economy", [PDF Acrobat File] Briefing at (“Ambassadorial”) Conference on Cambodia for Ambassador Carol Rodley sponsored by the Bureau of Intelligence and Research of the U.S. Department of State, Diplomatic and Consular Officers, Retired (DACOR) Bacon House, Washington, DC, 9:00 am-1:00 pm, 15 September 2008.
"Justice, Forgiveness, and the Khmer Rouge Tribunal", [PDF Acrobat File] Lecture, sponsored by Religion, Politics and Globalization Program (RPGP) , International of International Studies, Human Rights Center, and Center for Southeast Asia Studies, 223 Moses Hall, University of California, Berkeley, CA, 4 pm, 12 September 2008.
"Cambodia
and Thailand's Standoff Threatens Regional Stability" (with John Hall,
"Managing
Democracy: Cambodia's Free Press Under Fire" (with John Hall,
"Special Issue on Southeast Asian American Demographics: Response-Public Policy/Political Science", Journal of Southeast Asian American Education & Advancement, Vol. 3, an official publication of the National Association for the Education and Advancement of Cambodian, Laotian, and Vietnamese Americans (NAFEA), with support from the Department of Bicultural-Bilingual Studies and the College of Education and Human Development at the University of Texas, San Antonio, June 2008, pp. 58-61.
"Southeast Asia: History, Politics, and Culture", [PDF Acrobat File] (with Michael Malley, Naval Postgraduate School) Regional Security Education Program in support of Pacific Partnership 2008, aboard the USNS Mercy, sailing from Guam to Cotabato (Mindanao, Republic of the Philippines), May 23-29, 2008.
"Book Review: International Democracy Assistance for Peacebuilding (Palgrave Macmillan, 2007) by Sorpong Peou & Dancing in Shadows (Rowman & Littlefield, 2008) by Benny Widyono", [PDF Acrobat File] Contemporary Southeast Asia, Vol. 30, Issue 1, Institute of Southeast Asian Studies (ISEAS), Singapore, April 2008, pp. 140-143.
"Political Economy of HPAI in Cambodia: Research Proposal", [PDF Acrobat File] Avian Influenza: The Politics and Policy Processes of a Global Response, STEPS Centre, Institute of Development Studies, University of Sussex, Brighton, BN1 9RE, United Kingdom, April 25, 2008.
"Cambodia: Fragile Hopes After the Killing Fields", [PDF Acrobat File] Justice and Human Rights in Cambodia Lecture, Whitley Auditorium, Elon University, Elon, NC, 7:30pm, April 1, 2008.
"Justice, Forgiveness, and the Khmer Rouge Trials", [PDF Acrobat File] From Auschwitz to Darfur: The Genocide Convention at Sixty, A Legal Symposium Marking the 60th Anniversary of the 1948 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, Chapman University School of Law, Center for Global Trade & Development, Orange, CA, March 13, 2008.
"Discussion Brief/Points on the Politics of Binding Constraints to Growth in Cambodia", [PDF Acrobat File] Workshop on the Political-Economy of Binding Constraints to Growth in Cambodia, John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, February 25, 2008.
"From 'Warship' to 'Peace Vessel': Essex in
Cambodia (26 Nov-2 Dec 07)", [PDF Acrobat File] Navy 2008 Stability
and Security Conference, Marriot Crystal Gateway Hotel,
"Does Aid Dependence Worsen Governance?", International Public Management Journal, Volume 10, Issue 3, September 2007, pp. 259-286, the refereed journal of the International Public Management Network. An earlier draft was presented in the Department of National Security Affairs, Naval Postgraduate School, Monterey, California (October 25, 2006); the Department of Political Science and International Studies, Yonsei University, Seoul, Korea (November 21, 2006); the International Conference on Social Science Research, Vancouver, Canada (December 10-12, 2006); the Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Ottawa, Canada (December 13, 2006), and the Department of Public Administration, Maxwell School of Syracuse University (February 1, 2007). E-mail if you'd like a FREE copy of the article.
"The Political Economy of Aid and Governance in Cambodia", Asian Journal of Political Science, Volume 15, Issue 1, April 2007, pp. 68-96, a refereed journal of the Department of Political Science, National University of Singapore. E-mail if you'd like a FREE copy of the article.
"Khmer
Rouge", "Kampuchea", and "Pol Pot" Entries (with
Susan Ear, UC Berkeley), World Fascism: A Historical Encyclopedia edited
by Cyprian P. Blamires (
"Human Rights & Freedom of Expression Events:
Learning from Experience" [PDF Acrobat File of PowerPoint
Presentation] Research Paper Presentation, Pact
The Political Economy of Aid, Governance, and Policy-Making: Cambodia in Global, National, and Sectoral Perspectives, [1.8 megabyte PDF Acrobat File] Doctoral Dissertation, Department of Political Science, University of California, Berkeley, filed April 19, 2006. The "official" University copy, with an abstract and 24 page preview (stored by ProQuest Information and Learning Company) is available for purchase here, but why pay money?
"The Political Economy of Pro-Poor Livestock Policy in Cambodia," [PDF Acrobat File] Working Paper 26, Pro-Poor Livestock Policy Initiative, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, August 2005. A Policy Brief version of the paper (for those who don't have time to read all 66 of its pages) was published at the same time and is available here. Those who have even less time can glance at the abstract!
"Governance and Economic Performance: Credibility, Political Will, and Reform," [PDF Acrobat File] Cambodian Economic Review, Cambodian Economic Association, May 2005, pp. 17-52.
"One
Way Out," (with Cam Youk Lim) [PDF Acrobat File]
The New York Times, Section 6; Column 1; Magazine Desk; LIVES; Pg. 134,
April 17, 2005. Reprinted as "Woman Returns to
"Can Aid Both Help and Hinder Governance?"
[PDF Acrobat File of PowerPoint Presentation] Paper Presentation Seminar, Asian
Development Bank Headquarters,
"Towards Understanding Social Protection in
Cambodia," (with Sophal Chan) [PDF Acrobat File], Cambodia
Development Review, Vol. 8, Issue 4, Cambodia Development Resource
Institute, October-December 2004, pp. 9-13. Presented
[PDF Acrobat File of PowerPoint Presentation] at the 7th Socio-Cultural
Research Congress on
"Language As Freedom /
My Language Is My Passport," Survivor Stories,
"Op-Ed Avoids Real Problem," The Daily Californian, Letter to the Editor, Friday, September 26, 2003.
"A man with no enemies," (with Dr. Peter Li) The Phnom Penh Post, Letter to the Editor, Issue 12/06, March 14-27, 2003.
"Cambodia" Entry, Encyclopedia of World Terrorism: 1996-2002, edited by Frank G. Shanty and Raymond Picquet, ISBN 1563248077, M.E. Sharpe, Inc. (Sharpe Reference), February 2003. Don't pay full price though, just click here.
"Analysis of the Results-Oriented Workshop on the
Roles and Functions of International Advisors: Towards a Capacity Building
Strategy and Action Plan for Timor-Leste" (with Toshi Nakamura) [PDF
Acrobat File of PowerPoint Presentation], United Nations Development Programme,
Dili,
"How
Does Spousal Education Matter? Some Evidence From Cambodia" (with
Tomoki Fujii) [PDF Acrobat File], Asian Development Review, Vol. 19, No.
1, August 2002, pp. 117-138, a refereed journal of the Asian Development Bank. Presented draft of the paper [PDF Acrobat File of
PowerPoint Presentation with Tomoki Fujii] on August 23, 2002 at a special
Research Forum session held at the Cambodia Development Resource Institute,
"Human Development Report 2002: Deepening Democracy in a Fragmented World," [PDF Acrobat File of PowerPoint Presentation], United Nations Development Programme Global Launch, Hotel Le Royal, Phnom Penh, Cambodia, July 24, 2002.
"Has More Aid Worsened Governance Since 1995? A Large-N Study of Six Quality of Governance Indicators" [PDF Acrobat File], M.A. Essay, Department of Political Science, University of California, Berkeley, May 6, 2002.
"Change and Continuity in the Political Economy of
Cambodia: Before and After the Commune Elections" [PDF Acrobat File of
PowerPoint Presentation], presented at the quarterly meeting of Khmer United, a
community-based organization.
"Tobacco, Poverty, and Socioeconomic Status in
Cambodia" [PDF Acrobat File], One-Page Research Prospectus and PowerPoint [PDF Acrobat File of PowerPoint
Presentation], presented at the "Tobacco Control Research Workshop".
Organized by the Southeast Asia
Tobacco Control Alliance, the
"Cambodia and the U.N." [PDF Acrobat File], The New York Times, [Letter to the Editor Section] February 21, 2002.
Reducing Vulnerability and Increasing Opportunity: Social Protection in the Middle East and North Africa [Contributed inputs and comments], The World Bank, Report No. 24560, January 1, 2002.
"Transparency Through Government Initiatives: From
the 'Washington Consensus' to the African Experience" and "Role and Agenda of the Private Sector" [Both PDF
Acrobat Files of PowerPoint Presentations], International Conference "Building
a Coalition for Transparency". Co-organized by the Asian Development
Bank (ADB) and the Center for Social Development (CSD). Sponsored by the
Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA), Partnership for Transparency
Fund (PTF), and USAID through the
"Cambodia and the 'Washington Consensus'
Revisited, Following the Twin Crises" [PDF Acrobat File of PowerPoint
Presentation], Asian Development Bank Seminar, ADB Headquarters,
"Cambodia and the 'Washington Consensus'
Redux" [PDF Acrobat File of PowerPoint Presentation], Southeast Asian
Studies Summer Institute (SEASSI) Conference: "
(translation
from Khmer: "Romanticizing the Khmer Revolution" based on a chapter in
my undergraduate honors thesis “The Khmer Rouge Cannon”), [PDF
Acrobat File in Khmer] The Truth, Documentation Center of Cambodia,
Phnom Penh, Cambodia, Issue 17, May 2001. Original
English-Language Draft [PDF Acrobat File]
Morocco: Poverty Update [Contributed to Labor Markets with Guillermo Hakim], The World Bank, Report No. 21506-MOR, March 30, 2001.
"The World Bank and Cambodia: Everything You Ever
Wanted to Know... But Were Afraid to Ask" [PDF Acrobat File of
PowerPoint Presentation], Cambodian Development Colloquium, Center for
Southeast Asian Studies,
"Forestry Deja Vu" [Letter to the Editor], Phnom Penh Post, Issue 9/11, May 26-June 8, 2000.
Cambodia: Poverty Assessment [Contributed to Post-Conflict and Rural Development], The World Bank, Report No. 19858-KH, November 22, 1999.
"UC Berkeley Will Lose Out," The Daily Californian, Letter to the Editor, Thursday, November 4, 1999.
"Why
Cambodia is No Basket Case," Pacific News Service, January 29,
1999. Reprinted in JINN Magazine, Issue No. 5.02, 01/18/99-01/31/99.
Reprinted by
"Cambodia and the Washington Consensus,"
[PDF Acrobat File] Crossroads: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Southeast
Asian Studies, refereed by the Center for Southeast Asian Studies, Northern
Illinois University, Volume 11, Number 2, 1997, pp. 73-97. Reprinted as Chapter
22 in Peou, Sorpong, ed.
"How the Asian Crisis Will Impact Cambodia," The CICP Newsletter, Cambodian Institute for Cooperation and Peace, Phnom Penh, Cambodia, Issue No. 23, January-February 1998. Based on an interview with Radio Free Asia in January 1998 that was broadcast February 3, 1998.
"A Currency Board for Cambodia", Les Cahiers du Ceria, serie rouge, Center for Asian Interdisciplinary Studies and Research, no. 2, juillet 1997.
"Cambodia: Negotiating the Peace Accords", Les Cahiers du Ceria, serie rouge, Center for Asian Interdisciplinary Studies and Research, no. 1, juin 1997.
"Editorial: Peace
and Democracy at Risk in Cambodia," Pacific Asia Review,
"Observation: Competition, Bargaining, Information, and Price Discrimination in Cambodia's Psah," The CICP Newsletter, Cambodian Institute for Cooperation and Peace, Phnom Penh, Cambodia, Issues No. 15 & 16, June-July 1996.
"Dollarization, Monetary Independence and Inflation," The CICP Newsletter, Cambodian Institute for Cooperation and Peace, Phnom Penh, Cambodia, Issues No. 15 & 16, June-July 1996.
"The Internet Comes to Cambodia," The CICP Newsletter, Cambodian Institute for Cooperation and Peace, Phnom Penh, Cambodia, No. 14, May 1996.
"The Khmer Rouge Canon," Khmer Conscience, Vol. IX, No. 1, Winter 1995.
"Excerpts: Cambodia's Economic Development and History," Khmer Conscience, Vol. IX, No. 1, Winter 1995.
"One Side of the Two-Sided Switch: Benedict Kiernan and the Khmer Rouge," Khmer Conscience, Vol. IX, No. 1, Winter 1995.
Cambodia's Economic Development in Historical Perspective. [PDF Acrobat File] Ronald E. McNair Research Paper, UC Berkeley, August 1995, August 1995, presented at the Ronald E. McNair Scholar Symposium at UC Berkeley, August 11, 1995.
"Cambodia's Economic Development in Historical
Perspective (1953-1970)",
The Khmer Rouge Canon 1975-1979: The Standard Total
Academic View on Cambodia. [PDF Acrobat File] Undergraduate Honors Thesis
in Political Science, Department of Political Science, UC Berkeley, May 1995. HTML File
Cambodia's Economic Development and History: A Contribution to the Study of the Cambodian Economy. Undergraduate Honors Thesis in Economics, Department of Economics, UC Berkeley, March 22, 1995.
"Are We Ready for Democracy?" Khmer Conscience, Vol. V, No. 1, Winter 1991. Reprinted in Nguoi Viet [Vietnamese People] Weekly, Vol. 13, No. 2101, May 23, 1991.
I want to hear your comments about my rantings. Lastly, I have been interviewed by or featured in the Asian Wall Street Journal (1998), AsianWeek (2000), EAP Feature (2000), the International Herald Tribune (2000), Radio Free Asia (1998 & 2001), the San Francisco Examiner (2000), US Trek (a PBS-affiliated K-12 educational website), the Village Voice (1996), the Voice of America (1999), the Washington Post (2000), the Washington Times (1997), the Cambodia Daily (2001 & 2005), NewsRadio 93.8FM in Singapore (2001), KRLD 1080AM in Dallas-Fort Worth (2000), The New York Times (2002 & 2005), and Australia TV (April 2006). And don't forget to take a look at my pictures! If a picture is worth a thousand words, my album is worth nearly a million...