Vol.64 No.1

2024（No.451）［Abstracts］

The Paris Peace Agreement at 50: The U.S. Bombardment of Cambodia（March 18, 1969 ―August 15,1973）and the Vietnam War Reconsidered
FUJIMOTO Hiroshi＊
The Nixon Administration conducted secret aerial bombardment of Cambodia between
March 1969 and August 1973, which has not been paid enough attention in the study of theVietnam War. Some works, though limited, suggest that the U.S. bombing paved the way forthe emergence of the Pol Pot regime in April 1975, and that the bombardment caused
enormous killings of civilians（up to 150,000 civilian deaths）. The aim of this article is toreconsider the historical meaning of the Vietnam War through taking an overview of thebackground and the outcome of the American bombardment of Cambodia.
This article reveals that the bombing in Cambodia could be considered in the larger
context of the “Vietnam Wars” since the bombardment of Cambodia was a part of the U.S.
bombing in the “Indochina” theater, including South & North Vietnam and Laos. The bombingin Cambodia followed both “shock and awe” and “strategic bombing” strategy conducted since
the first half of the Twentieth Century. The author also suggests that the failure of thebombardment was due to the overestimation of the U.S. coercive strategy and theunderestimation of the “enemy.” In this process, American leaders tended to make the human
toll of civilians in Cambodia invisible to the public.
Finally, this article points out that remembering the U.S. bombing in Cambodia and its
human consequences gives us an historical understanding of its war legacies in Cambodia（alsoin Vietnam and Laos）as well as of the limits of air power in the age of “perpetual war”（as wasseen in Afghanistan and Iraq after 9.11）. Cambodia still suﬀers from the unexploded ordinanceresulted from cluster bombs used during the bombing.
＊AAIJ Member

Former Professor, Nanzan University
Research Fellow. International Peace Research Institute,
Meiji Gakuin University― 84 ―

50 Years Since the Chilean Coup d'état: From “the Chilean Road to Socialism”
to the Shock Doctrine and the “Mature Neoliberalism”
GOTO Masako＊
50 years have passed since the military coup of 1973. Why did“the Chilean Road toSocialism” turn into a catastrophe? A decisive factor was the intervention of the Nixon
administration, which feared Chileʼs socialization. No only the failure to understand Allendeʼsphilosophy of “a democratic socialism” by member parties of the Unidad Popular.
Historically in Chile, the left has not surpassed the limit of a third of votes in thepresidential elections and has been forced to form an alliance with centrist parties to takepower. The more the reforms progress, the more likely centrists defect from the government.
Allende envisioned the gradual change, by remediating the already-existing systems andpolicies, and institutionalizing the participation of the people in the decision making. However
the Unidad Popular ignored his proposal.
El neoliberalism continued under the Concertación governments, with high economic
growth and the reduction of the poverty ratio, as a result the country has been admiredinternationally as “the Mature Neoliberalism”. However, Chile is a considerable disparity
society with a large number of deprived people, resulting in the spread of the political apathy
in the lower strata of the society. Consequently, the government of president Boric, which wasestablished in the heated atmosphere of the so-called “social explosion” of 2019 (thedevelopment of the civil movements), is a minority group in the congress and the draft of thenew constitution has been refused in the plebiscite.
This indicates that the social change is not realized only with the development of thecivil movements.
＊AAIJ member

Professor Emeritus, Kanagawa University― 85 ―

Environmental Impact Assessment Procedures and Chinese Overseas
Hydropower Projects in Cambodia: A Case Study of Stung Tatay
Hydroelectric Project
LI Cong＊
Since the 2000s, Cambodia has spurred economic growth by harnessing its richhydropower resources, primarily through signiﬁcant participation of China in both funding andbuilding projects. Given Cambodiaʼs dominant advocacy for energy development and thegovernmentʼs pervasive political inﬂuence, the legitimacy of project decision-making process
warrants examination. This article examines how the procedural justice in Environmental
Impact Assessment（EIA）
in a Chinese project within Cambodia is adversely inﬂuenced by theproject entityʼs objectives, the Cambodian governmentʼs agenda and its hydropower
governance, taking Stung Tatay Hydroelectric Project as a case study. Two major EIAprocedural flaws are identified: the Cambodian government permitted the project in theabsence of a reviewed EIA; the Chinese developer commenced construction without receiving
EIA approval. The factors underlie the Chinese companyʼs neglect of environmental
management responsibilities, coupled with its tendency to expedite the construction.
Furthermore, the project was initiated and pushed by the Cambodian government. Despite theexisting legal framework, the practical enforcement of regulations to prevent the ﬂaws or halt
the project activities was virtually non-existent. This article reveals that the objectives of EIA serving as a precaution and a decision-making instrument - were compromised, reducing theprocess to a mere formality. The EIA process was used solely to qualify the project for theClean Development Mechanism（CDM）registry.
＊AAIJ member

Doctoral Program, Graduate School of Human Development and Environment, Kobe University（Received July 31, 2023 / Accepted September 7, 2023）― 86 ―