ABSTRACT
In the course of the struggle since 1970, Cambodia has developed the political consciousness of its people, begun one of the most thorough-going agrarian revolutions in history, rebuilt much of the basic infrastructure necessary to a developing economy, and quickly resumed industrial production. The Draconian rules of life turned Cambodia into a nation-wide gulag, as the Khmer Rouge imposed a revolution more radical and brutal than any other in modern history—a revolution that disturbed even the Chinese, the Cambodian communists' closest allies. A huge gap remains in the literature on revolution, for far too much of what little has been written about the Khmer Revolutions has been a search for heroes and villains motivated by a bewildering array of ideological and geopolitical interests. The distinction between revolution qua "overthrow" and revolution qua "society building" is clear enough in the abstract.
