Contingent Sovereignty: Cross-Border Rentals in the Cambodia–Vietnam Borderland

Abstract

An investigation of land rentals by Vietnamese farmers in Cambodian border districts reveals the contingent nature of state sovereignty in a postconflict borderland. Cross-border leasing activity has prompted criticism that Cambodia's “national sovereignty” has been weakened. Although it is in the interests of the ruling party to demonstrate firm control of the Cambodia–Vietnam border, land rentals expose three key factors that mitigate this interest. First, they uncover the emergence of competing territorial and political claims in the country's upland borders. Second, the process of state-making at these margins is derailed by dissonant practices among state actors, through their everyday negotiations and actions to accumulate land and capital. Third, the rapid growth of land and commodity markets has intensified local contests for land. These factors render the border porous and weaken the ruling party's exercise of territorial authority. Thus, cross-border rentals expose a fragile and networked form of state sovereignty that is contingent on the ongoing enrollment of disparate state and nonstate actors. This presents risks for a state that is often cast as authoritarian.

越南农民在柬埔寨边境地区租赁土地的研究, 揭露了国家主权本质在后冲突边境中的偶然性。跨境的租赁活动, 激发了柬埔寨的 “国家主权” 遭到弱化的批评。尽管对柬埔寨 — 越南边境展示严格的控管符合执政党的利益, 但土地租赁, 仍展现出削弱此一利益的三大关键因素。首先, 它们揭露了柬埔寨高地边界中浮现的相互竞争的领土与政治宣称。再者, 在这些边陲之地的国家打造过程, 因国家行动者于每日生活中的协商与行动来累积土地与资本时不一致的行动而脱离常轨。第三, 快速成长的土地与商品市场, 加剧了地方的土地争夺。这些因素让边境呈现出多孔状, 并且削弱了执政党在边境的权力实践。因此, 跨境租赁暴露出脆弱且网络化的国家主权形式, 并取决于纳入迥异的国家与非国家行动者之持续过程。此般境况, 对于此一经常被认定为极权的国家提出挑战。

Una investigación sobre alquileres de tierra por agricultores vietnamitas en los distritos fronterizos camboyanos revela la naturaleza contingente de la soberanía del estado en áreas fronterizas, posteriores a un conflicto. La actividad del arrendamiento transfronterizo ha suscitado la crítica de que la “soberanía nacional” de Camboya se ha debilitado. Aunque es del interés del partido gobernante demostrar un firme control del límite Camboya-Vietnam, los arriendos de tierras exponen tres factores claves que merman ese interés. Primero, se destapa la aparición de reclamaciones competidas territoriales y políticas en los límites que cruzan las tierras altas del país. Segundo, el proceso de construcción de estado en estos bordes está estropeado por prácticas disonantes entre actores estatales, a través de sus negociaciones cotidianas y acciones conducentes a la acumulación de tierra y capital. Tercero, la rápida expansión de los mercados de tierra y mercaderías ha intensificado las disputas locales por la tierra. Estos factores hacen porosa la frontera y debilitan el ejercicio de la autoridad territorial por el partido gobernante. Entonces, los arrendamientos tras la frontera exponen una forma frágil y encadenada de soberanía del estado que es contingente con la actual inscripción de dispares actores del estado y no estatales.

Key Words:

• borderland
• markets
• sovereignty
• statemaking
• territory

关键词：:

• 关键词:边境, 市场, 主权, 国家打造, 领土。

Palabras clave:

• zona fronteriza, mercados, soberanía, construcción de estado, territorio

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Correction to: Contingent Sovereignty: Cross-Border Rentals in the Cambodia–Vietnam Borderland

Correction

Acknowledgments

Many thanks to all the Cambodian and Vietnamese colleagues who helped me in the field. Thank you also to the following people for helpful advice and comments: Phuc Xuan To, Sarah Milne, Jean-Christophe Diepart, John McCarthy, Siobhan McDonnell, Keith Barney, Matthew Allen, and Ramesh Sunam; participants in my panel at the Political Ecologies of Conflict, Capitalism and Contestation (PE-3C) Conference, Wageningen, The Netherlands, 7–9 July 2016; and to Anna Hutchens for editing advice. Any remaining errors are my own.

Funding

This research is funded by the Australian Research Council (FT130101495, “Frontiers of Change: Resources, Access and Political Agency on the Cambodia–Vietnam Borderland”). The views expressed in this paper are those of the author and not necessarily those of the Australian Government or the Australian Research Council.

Notes

1. Regions containing an international border (van Schendel 2005, 44).

2. Yuon is a derogatory Khmer term for Vietnamese people.

3. The Mon-Khmer ethnic minority known as the Bunong or Phnong or the Mnong in spans the Cambodia–Vietnam border region, with linguistic evidence of their presence in the area for as much as 2,000 years and archeological evidence that extends several thousand years (White 2009; Keating 2015). The broader notion of indigenous people (chun cheat daeum), however, is far more recent in Cambodia, tied to international social movements, donor safeguards, and domestic land discourses (Baird 2011; Padwe 2013).

4. The ethnic minority known as the Cham has its own language of the Malayo-Polynesian family and has a long and dynamic history in Cambodia and Vietnam (Collins 2009). This group now comprises about 2 percent of Cambodia's national population.

5. The Cambodian land law defines pau keah or possession simply as holding land without title; however, historically, possession has been a broader term that reflects continuous presence, utilization, and recognition by social consensus; for example, by local community leaders (Diepart 2015).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Sango Mahanty

SANGO MAHANTY is an Australian Research Council Future Fellow in the Crawford School of Public Policy at the Australian National University, Canberra 2601, Australia. E-mail: [email protected]. Her research interests include the social dimensions of commodity networks, forests, and agrarian change, with a current focus on Cambodia and Vietnam.