The Chronicle of a People's War: The Military and Strategic History of the Cambodian Civil War, 1979-1991 narrates the military and strategic history of the Cambodian Civil War, especially the People's Republic of Kampuchea (PRK), from when it deposed the genocidal Khmer Rouge regime in 1979 until the political settlement in 1991. The PRK survived in the face of a fierce insurgency due to three factors: an appealing and reasonably well-implemented political program, extensive political indoctrination, and the use of a hybrid army. In this hybrid organization, the PRK relied on both its professional, conventional army, and the militia-like, "territorial army." This latter type was lightly equipped and most soldiers were not professional. Yet the militia made up for these weaknesses with its intimate knowledge of the local terrain and its political affinity with the local people. These two advantages are keys to victory in the context of counterinsurgency warfare. The narrative and critical analysis is driven by extensive interviews and primary source archives that have never been accessed before by any scholar, including interviews with former veterans (battalion commanders, brigade commanders, division commanders, commanders of provincial military commands, commanders of military regions, and deputy chiefs of staff), articles in the People's Army from 1979 to 1991, battlefield footage, battlefield video reports, newsreel, propaganda video, and official publications of the Cambodian Institute of Military History.

The Chronicle of a People's War: The Military and Strategic History of the Cambodian Civil War, 1979-1991 narrates the military and strategic history of the Cambodian Civil War, especially the People's Republic of Kampuchea (PRK), from when it deposed the genocidal Khmer Rouge regime in 1979 until the political settlement in 1991. The PRK survived in the face of a fierce insurgency due to three factors: an appealing and reasonably well-implemented political program, extensive political indoctrination, and the use of a hybrid army. In this hybrid organization, the PRK relied on both its professional, conventional army, and the militia-like, "territorial army." This latter type was lightly equipped and most soldiers were not professional. Yet the militia made up for these weaknesses with its intimate knowledge of the local terrain and its political affinity with the local people. These two advantages are keys to victory in the context of counterinsurgency warfare. The narrative and critical analysis is driven by extensive interviews and primary source archives that have never been accessed before by any scholar, including interviews with former veterans (battalion commanders, brigade commanders, division commanders, commanders of provincial military commands, commanders of military regions, and deputy chiefs of staff), articles in the People's Army from 1979 to 1991, battlefield footage, battlefield video reports, newsreel, propaganda video, and official publications of the Cambodian Institute of Military History.

PKSOI is pleased to present this monograph by Mr. Boraden Nhem. Mr. Nhem, a doctoral candidate, came to PKSOI to pursue his interest in peacekeeping. Particularly interested in the determining factors of success for peacekeeping missions, he has addressed a part of this with a fresh look at the United Nations (UN) Cambodian peacekeeping mission of 1992-93. His interests are academic but also motivated by personal experience-his childhood was spent in some of the worst years of fighting among factions, the implementation of the peacekeeping mission, and the rebuilding of the Cambodian government and society. Although he lived through this history, he has not fallen into the common trap of assuming his experience is the whole picture. This author has the unique ability to step back from his own life experience in order to investigate and make conclusions based upon the evidence he finds. He has done so in this paper. Mr. Nhem has made a case that in past research scholars have ordinarily addressed subjects such as mandates, spoiler management policy, and UN missions as separate constructs and further have failed to address local political factors. His new Cambodian case study reveals a complex and interactive situation in which local political conditions were paramount and directly challenged the UN peacekeeping principle of neutrality. In fact, he observes that UN peacekeeping missions can be too tied to theory and doctrine and ignore reality. Instead, he argues for missions that understand the inherent complexity of peacekeeping, recognize emerging realities, and adapt accordingly.