Book Review - Violence and the Civilizing Process in Cambodia by Roderic Broadhurst, Thierry Bouhours and Brigitte Bouhours

"Violence," Soviet-born author and biochemist Isaac Asimov wrote, "is the last refuge of the incompetent." We as a human species are undeniably a violent one, and since time immemorial, we have yet to coexist without violence. The theme and study of violence is at the core of Violence and the Civilising Process in Cambodia by Australia National University researchers Roderic Broadhurst (Professor of Criminology), Thierry Bouhours (Visiting Research Fellow), and Brigitte Bouhours (Visiting Scholar), who present us with a criminological analysis of patterns of violence in Cambodia. Their temporal scope spans the era of French colonization (1863-1945, 1945-1953), anti-colonial conflicts, and beginning with independence, Cambodia's civil war (1967-1975), years under Communist Party of Kampuchea (CPK) rule (1975-1979), and post-conflict development (1979-present).