Historically, modern day Cambodia was the site of a powerful empire that reached its most glorious splendor in the 13th century. The Angkorian Empire at its peak ruled over a wide expanse of Southeast Asia, including much of present-day northern Thailand and had a population of millions. It also gave the world the biggest religious building in the world, Angkor Wat, and a host of other equally impressive temples and cities. Following this the civilization entered a slow decline. The French colonized Cambodia in the 19th Century and it became part of French Indo-China. Much evidence of this phase of history is still visible today. After the French reluctantly departed in the late 1950s, Cambodia became increasingly unstable and two revolutions occurred in less than a decade. The Lon Nol regime came into power in 1970 and was widely seen as a puppet of the US. A vicious Civil War ensued between the Lon Nol regime and the socialist revolutionaries, the Khmer Rouge led by Pol Pot. In 1975 the Khmer Rouge took power and over the next 4 years they almost entirely decimated the Khmer Nation. During the civil war and Khmer Rouge terror, more than a million people were executed, starved or died of disease. The infrastructure, institutions, and culture were almost completely destroyed. However in 1993, under the supervision of the United Nations, Cambodia held its first national election intended to lay the foundation for a democratic society. Despite all the efforts of both the international community and the Cambodian people, Cambodian democracy is still weak and social injustices uncountable. One of the main reasons for Cambodias shortfalls is lawlessness. The legislative system is flawed on every level, from the drafting of new legislation to its every day execution.

This has created a situation of unequalled corruption and gross impunity on the part of governmental officials. For example, 100,000 people are currently in a situation in which powerful people are trying to displace them in order to get access to their land.