The writer, an associate professor in the Thunderbird School of Global Management at Arizona State University, is a Cambodian refugee and author of ‘Viral Sovereignty and the Political Economy of Pandemics’
When border disputes turn deadly, it is rarely only about lines on a map. The recent military escalation between Thailand and Cambodia — fuelled by rocket attacks, fighter jet retaliation and civilian casualties — has taken a more than century-old historical disagreement into uncharted and dangerous territory. Behind the chaos lie two combustible forces: domestic political instability and regional diplomatic dysfunction.
Two political dynasties sit at the heart of the conflict: the Hun family in Cambodia and the Shinawatra family in Thailand. In Phnom Penh, the decision of Hun Sen, Cambodia’s former prime minister and now Senate president, to leak a private conversation with Thailand’s then-Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra was reckless. It undermined regional trust, humiliated a neighbouring leader and ignited nationalist backlash that Thai hardliners were all too ready to exploit.