The country is hitting a developmental wall because necessary structural reforms clash directly with the needs of an entrenched patronage system.

Over the past 25 years, Cambodia successfully cut its poverty rate from over 50 percent to under 20 percent. However, the model driving this success now faces severe headwinds. Due to ongoing global price shocks and a sharp, year-long slump in remittances prompted by the Cambodian-Thai border dispute, more than a million people risk falling back below the subsistence level, according to the World Bank. This vulnerability underscores the fragility of Cambodia’s growth model. Without structurally transforming the domestic economy, hard-won social progress remains in jeopardy.

Read the full analysis on https://thediplomat.com/2026/09/the-illusion-of-technocratic-transformation-in-cambodia/