Technocratic Turn: Authoritarianism, Global Capitalism, and Cambodia’s State Transformation since 2013

Scholars have characterized Cambodia as a weak state, strong party governance system in which administrative institutions are subordinated to the ruling Cambodian People’s Party (CPP). This article argues that since 2013 Cambodian governance has taken a significant technocratic turn, as party rule has become increasingly dependent on a stronger and more capable administrative state. It traces a reform pattern involving selective creation and upgrading of institutional nodes that expand overall state administrative capacity without disrupting the party-political order. Through three cases — the transformation of the National Bank of Cambodia through the Bakong digital payment system, the restructuring of public–private partnership frameworks to fund the Techo International Airport, and the creation of executive-linked agencies such as the Techo Startup Center — the article shows how new centers of administrative capacity have emerged and been positioned at the core of the state’s developmental agenda. These institutions have enhanced the party-state’s capacity to mobilize revenue, coordinate and develop mega infrastructures, and formalize the economy, producing a more capable but still party-embedded state. The Cambodian case illustrates a particular trajectory within broader contemporary developmental state-making under global capitalism, in which strengthened administrative states and political authoritarianism are mutually reinforcing.