CURRENT RESEARCH

FORTHCOMING PUBLICATIONS

Hybrid Justice: The Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (with Anne Heindel, forthcoming, University of Michigan Press). This book examines the relationship between the institutional form and function of the UN-backed hybrid court established to put former Khmer Rouge officials on trial for crimes of the Pol Pot era. It uses the Cambodian case to test arguments about the functional strengths and shortcomings of hybrid courts and offers lessons for other mass crimes proceedings going forward.

Experiments in International Criminal Justice (with Anne Heindel, forthcoming, Michigan Journal of International Law). The Khmer Rouge trials include a number of innovative legal features, including a prominent civil law component, a civil party scheme, and strong roots in the local judicial system. This paper examines the effects of those innovative legal features on the proceedings and discusses their potential applicability at the International Criminal Court and other forums.

Lessons from the Cambodian Experience with Truth and Reconciliation (with Jaya Ramji-Nogales, forthcoming mid-2013). The University at Buffalo Law School organized a symposium on the truth and reconciliation process in South Korea. This paper contributes by sharing lessons from the Cambodian experience, stressing the difference between "macro" and "micro" reconciliation and the limits of officially-led processes in promoting the latter.

China and the Pol Pot Regime (forthcoming, Cold War History). The Khmer Rouge trials have brought renewed attention to China's role as the principal international sponsor of the Pol Pot regime. Drawing from selected interviews with former Khmer Rouge cadres, original Khmer Rouge documents, and information revealed at the trials, this paper contributes to an enhanced understanding of China's role in Democratic Kampuchea.

ONGOING PROJECTS

Official Records and the Right to the Truth: Archiving Atrocities in Transitional States. This paper explores a number of legal, political and ethical issues that arise in efforts to document past human rights abuses in transitional states. It examines the importance and difficulty of preserving accessible state archives to uphold the emerging norm of a "right to the truth" under international law and advances a concept of complementarity to guide international engagement in archival efforts. It draws from cases in Guatemala, Iraq, Cambodia, Paraguay, and elsewhere. For a previous draft published as a working paper, click here.

Nationalist Protests and Territorial Disputes in East Asia (with Jessica Chen Weiss). This paper examines how governments seek to manage nationalist protests in the context of territorial disputes. It discusses the possible advantages and risks of enabling protests and the factors that impel governments to permit or seek to repress demonstrations. It develops theoretical arguments and applies them to the contemporary Sino-Vietnamese and Thai-Cambodian territorial disputes.

China's Influence in East Asia: Relational and Structural Dimensions (with Evelyn Goh). Although claims about China's rising influence are ubiquitous in the IR literature, relatively few studies have begun to delve into the specific mechanisms whereby China can convert its growing power resources into usable tools of influence. This paper examines China's power in its structural and relational context to demonstrate a number of important constraints on its policy influence.

China's Influence on Monetary Policy in Developing Asia. Although China has accumulated vast reserves and occupies an increasingly central role in international trade, its influence over the monetary policies of its developing Asian neighbors remains quite limited. This paper traces a number of possible mechanisms for purposeful or non-intentional Chinese influence and explains a number of reasons why Beijing's monetary policy influence has lagged its waxing capabilities by a significant margin.

China and Cambodia: Patron and Client? Close Sino-Cambodian cooperation in recent years has prompted some critics to refer to Cambodia as a Chinese "client state." This paper analyzes the implicit bargain underlying that cooperation, focusing on the structure of the Cambodian political economy as a key enabling factor. The paper is prepared for a book organized by Donald Emmerson on China's relations with its Southeast Asian neighbors.