Politics in South East Asia Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Politics in South East Asia - Essay Example Lastly, it is also crucial that the geo strategic essentials of the cold war are put into careful consideration. For instance, it was the colonial rule that led to the establishment of territorial boundaries and the institutions in the South East Asian countries. More over, the nationalism that later developed was responsible for the rising of new political discourse in the countries. What’s more, the advent of the cold war was important in that it helped to determine the nature of authority in the post colonial South East Asian countries. The bottom-line is that authoritarian regimes are common and widespread in South East Asia. Still, some countries are democratic. According to Hub pages, the region has for a long time struggled between military strength and democratic civilian leadership. Dictatorships were the norm for most of the countries and in some cases such as Burma, the authoritarianism still prevails to date. (2008) Cambodia is considered to be a successor state of the once powerful Hindu and Buddhist Khmer empire of the 11th and 14th century that ruled a huge part of the Indochinese Peninsula. In 1857, Cambodia became a French protectorate up until 1953. The French administered Cambodia as part of the colony of French Indochina. However, at some point between 1941 and 1945 Cambodia had been occupied by the Japanese. In November 9 1953, Cambodia became a constitutional monarchy under king Norodom Sihanouk after gaining their independence from the French.