But behind this façade lies a country still haunted by its years of terror.
In 1992, the world came together to help pull the small nation out of the mire. Cambodia became a United Nations protectorate – the first and only time the UN has tried something so ambitious. What did the new, democratically elected government do with this unprecedented gift?
In 2008 and 2009, Joel Brinkley – who won a Pulitzer Prize for his reporting on the fall of the Khmer Rouge – returned to Cambodia to find out. He discovered a population in the grip of a venal government. He learned that between one third and one half of Cambodians who lived through the Khmer Rouge era suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder, and that its afflictions are being passed to the next generation. His extensive close-up reporting in Cambodia's Curse illuminates the country, its people, and the deep historical roots of its modern-day behaviour. This is a devastating and important look at Cambodia today.