Geneva Conference Research Articles

Operation Passage to Freedom: The United States Navy in Vietnam, 1954-1955

Very little has been written about the U.S. Navy in Vietnam in the immediate postKorean War era, nor has the magnitude of American participation in the resettlement of Vietnam refugees following the 1954 Geneva Conference been explored. Beginning in the fall of 1954, U.S. Navy ships, as a part of Task Force 90, helped to relocate thousands of displaced North Vietnamese to South Vietnam following the separation of the nation at the 17th parallel. What those sailors accomplished during the three hundred days of Passage to forever changed the lives of more than 310,000 Vietnamese who traveled on their ships. In Operation Passage to Freedom Ronald B. Frankum, Jr. recounts the events surrounding this enormous humanitarian evacuation that was the American military's first major involvement with the Vietnamese people. Based on archival research and interviews with more than forty sailors who participated in Task Force 90, Operation Passage to Freedom illuminates a mission that has been all but forgotten and also explores how the initial humanitarian involvement of the United States in Vietnam eventually led to massive military involvement in the 1960s and 1970s.

What Is It that Best Explains the East Asian Peace Since 1979? A Call for a Research Agenda

This article discusses how historians and social scientists may go about seeking to explain relative absence of war in East Asia since 1979, after a period of three decades when East Asia was world's most war-prone region. Many have discussed European Peace, only few East Asian one, which calls for both similar and quite different explanations. The article does not present findings from research already made, but rather calls for a research agenda, aiming to solicit sponsors and contributors around world who would like to take part in its development. The purpose will not just be to understand past, but also to discuss what it may take to protect, deepen, and sustain peace in East Asia at a time of economic upheaval and a likely continued, perhaps accelerated shift of economic as well as military power from North America and Europe to East Asia. Key words: peace and security - East Asia, International Relations theory, conflict resolution Introduction Since 1979, East Asia has been surprisingly peaceful. While there was an annual average of ten regional armed conflicts from 1946 to 1979, it was down to an annual average of eight in period 1980 to 2005.1 The change was more radical, however, if only conflicts are counted that had more than 1,000 battle deaths during a calendar year (the PRIO Uppsala dataset's threshold for qualifying an armed conflict as a war).2 From 1946 to 1979, there was an average of four wars in East Asia every year. In 1980-2005, average was down to 0.5. The worst year after World War II was 1949, with fifteen armed conflicts, eight of which were wars. The most peaceful year since World War II was 2004, with four minor conflicts, none of which exceeded 1,000 threshold (Figure 1). The trend is even clearer in looking at number of soldiers and civilians killed directly in acts of war (battle deaths). While total number of battle deaths in East Asia during thirty years from 1950 to 1979 is estimated at 4.2 million, number of battle deaths in 26 years from 1980 to 2005 is calculated at just a little over 100,000 (Figure 2). The difference between 1945-1979 period and period since 1979 is most dramatic in viewing battle death figures compiled and assessed by Bethany Lacina on basis of work of Micheal Clodfelter and multiple other sources.3 They show how first period after World War II was characterized by very high numbers of casualties (although much lower than during World War II) in Chinese civil war, first Indochina War, and Korean War, with Korean War leading to a peak in 1950 in number of people killed. This was followed with a few years of little warfare in mid-1950s: Stalin died and Korean War ended in an armistice agreement; Indochina was divided by Geneva Conference of 1954; Mao Zedong consolidated his power before Great Leap Forward; and Bandung Conference led to formation of nonaligned movement. From late 1950s, however, Vietnam War began and became worst of all wars after 1945 in terms of cumulative number of battle deaths-more than two million. The last East Asian wars to take lives in tens of thousands within one single year were Vietnamese invasion of Cambodia in late 1978 and ensuing Chinese invasion of northern Vietnam from February to March 1979. Since late 1970s, level of warfare in East Asia has remained at a low level similar to that of 1955-1957. While decrease in battle deaths in East Asia follows a global decline, other regions have had significantly higher numbers of battle deaths since 1979. Hence, there has also been a shift in global geography of warfare from East Asia to other parts of Asia and Africa, and also, during 1990s, to southeastern Europe. Relatively few attempts have been made so far to explain dramatic decline in warfare in East Asia, a phenomenon we may tentatively call the East Asian Peace. …

WHO Proposes Plan to Close Major MH Treatment Gap

Back to table of contents Previous article Next article Health Care EconomicsFull AccessWHO Proposes Plan to Close Major MH Treatment GapAaron LevinAaron LevinSearch for more papers by this authorPublished Online:19 Dec 2008https://doi.org/10.1176/pn.43.24.0009The “huge treatment gap” in the developing the world for psychiatric, neurological, and substance use disorders can be narrowed if governments and donors can increase funding, expand mental health services, and integrate the latter into primary care settings, said the World Health Organization (WHO) in announcing its Mental Health Gap Action Program (mhGAP) in October.Margaret Chan: “Having evidence and a well-designed package of interventions are not enough. We will not see progress in mental health without political commitment.”Credit: World Health OrganizationThe plan seeks to strengthen commitments by governments and international organizations to put more human and financial resources into treating these disorders and expand access to targeted interventions in low-income and lower-middle-income countries.“We have in hand, right now, all the evidence, solutions, and lines of action we need to address the global burden of morbidity and premature mortality caused by these disorders,” said Margaret Chan, director general of WHO, at a news conference in Geneva. “But have no illusions.... Having evidence and a well-designed package of interventions are not enough. We will not see progress in mental health without political commitment.”Worldwide, only 2 percent of health funding is allocated to mental health, according to the WHO. Access to affordable care is difficult or impossible for millions of people. Many poor countries have fewer than one mental health professional per 100,000 population. The report estimates that one-third of people living with schizophrenia, more than half with depression, and three-quarters of those with alcohol use disorders lack access to care for those disorders.The WHO plan focuses on conditions with the highest burden of illness or economic cost or those associated with human-rights violations induced by stigma: depression, schizophrenia and other psychotic disorder, suicide, epilepsy, dementia, alcohol and drug abuse, and mental disorders in children.It describes evidence-based interventions to meet these challenges and calls for additional help for poor countries with high levels of disability-adjusted life years and greatest burden of mental, neurological, or substance abuse disorders.The program calls for policymakers, health professionals, health economists, social scientists, and nongovernmental organizations to organize and push for political commitment “at the highest level” to provide funds and human resources.“Political leaders have to be aware of the problem ... [and] must be convinced that taking action serves their best interests,” said Chan.The costs of increasing services would vary from country to country, the document pointed out, but “should be feasible in absolute terms, although challenging.” Reallocation of resources within national health budgets may be one strategy. Funds from international agencies or foundations may be another.“In public health we see, time and time again, how a comprehensive program of action, backed by solid evidence, can attract political attention, inspire partners, secure funds, and accelerate progress,” said Chan.“ Care for these highly prevalent, persistent, and debilitating disorders is not a charity. It is a moral and ethical duty.... And it is entirely feasible.”“Mental Health Gap Action Programme (mhGAP): Scaling Up Care for Mental, Neurological, and Substance Use Disorders” is posted at<www.who.int/entity/mental_health/mhgap_final_english.pdf>.▪ ISSUES NewArchived

The Royal Navy's Vietnam War: H.M.S.Warriorand the evacuation of refugees from North Vietnam, September 1954

This article examines H.M.S. Warrior's role in transporting several thousand refugees from North to South Vietnam, which was part of a much larger evacuation of people that followed the Geneva Conference of 1954 and the partition of Vietnam at the seventeenth parallel. Although Warrior only moved a relatively small number of Vietnamese, the story of the ship's involvement in this episode offers not only a birds-eye view of the refugee exodus but also an insight into Britain's broader diplomatic interests in South East Asia. Drawing on archival records and oral interviews, the article explores events from the perspective of both the policy makers who sent Warrior to Indochina and the sailors who participated in the mission.

Diagnostic Issues in Dementia: Advancing the Research Agenda for DSM-V

Diagnostic Issues in Dementia: Advancing the Research Agenda for DSM-V

Space technology: a new frontier for public health

When former UN secretary-general Kofi Annan was seen leaving conference in Geneva in November 2005 clutching maps of the south Asia earthquake disaster, it was evidence that satellites--as key weapon in humanitarian emergencies--had arrived. In the hours and days after the October 8 quake struck killing more than 73 000 people and injuring some 150 000, experts from France, Germany, the United Kingdom and the United Nations scrambled gather and interpret images data from satellites assist rescue workers on the ground from local authorities nongovernmental organizations (NGO), like Telecoms Sans Frontieres. The maps (which can be seen at http://www.disasterscharter.orgl disasters/CALLID_110_e.html) compare the terrain before and after the disaster, and pinpoint the location and impact of landslides. Such photos, says Maarten Meerman, satellite designer at MacDonald Dettwiler in Vancouver, Canada, would be detailed enough to spot flooded roads, burning forests, washed out railways, etc. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] These relief crews and aid workers--with their boots knee-deep in mud and their laptops under plastic bags for protection from the rain--got the damage maps and reported that the information was useful, recalls Philippe Bally, an earth observation specialist from the European Agency (ESA) and member of the secretariat of the International Charter Space and Major Disasters, seven-year-old commitment by 10 space agencies provide satellite-based data countries affected by disaster. This vote of confidence, he concluded, was a clear message when it comes from the end user. But it was the sight of Annan emerging with maps of the disaster that struck home for Bally, who through the Charter helped coordinate obtaining the images and their interpretation by experts from an ESA project called GMES RESPOND. Those maps, says Bally, the results of huge effort from the Charter alongside value-adding partners working on satellite data extract thematic Great advances have been made in space technology in the past decade, and these advances have become useful for addressing humanitarian crises. The chief of these, as the Pakistan earthquake illustrates, is using satellites obtain images of disaster zone quickly, so that rescue workers can focus their efforts where they are needed. But there are other uses of satellites: as way predict and monitor the spread of communicable diseases; as simple means of communication when land-based systems have failed; and as location and navigation aids when Global Positioning System--GPS--units locate and track public health information. In the outbreak of Rift Valley fever in Kenya (2006-2007), for example, GPS units were used link surveys an actual place on the earth, according Carl Kinkade, enterprise Geographic Information System (GIS) coordinator for the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). ESA is collaborating with the World Health Organization (WHO) establish European user-driven Telemedicine via Satellite programme. Telemedicine is the use of information technology deliver medical services or information from one location another. The programme will aim provide telemedicine services, such as delivering medical care and treatment via satellite, and, for WHO, key element is training health workers in how use such health technologies in their work. WHO has already trained health workers in how use satellite images in 20 countries. The Satellites For Epidemiology (SAFE) pilot project, for example, is part of that collaboration. According SAFE coordinator Audrey Berthier, of the Institut de Medecine et de Physiologie Spatiales (MEDES) in Toulouse, France, the SAFE project attempts answer the question: how good are satellites for providing early warning of disease outbreaks? To explore this, SAFE conducted training exercise in November 2007 on the Greek island of Crete (http://www. …

On Photography, History, and Affect: Re-Narrating the Political Life of a Laotian Subject

This essay considers the role of personal, affective history in shaping historiography, and more precisely, a post-colonial history of Laos. Relying on a variety of sources, official and family photographs, US diplomatic documents, telegrams and personal notes, and against the backdrop of multiple losses, this article problematizes the questions of biography and the complex links between the personal and the "historical" by narrating my father's professional trajectory over three decades as a civil servant and career diplomat. Pheng Norindr represented Laos at the 1962 Geneva Conference and became the Laotian envoy to the United Stated during the Vietnam War. His entanglement with French colonialism and Cold War politics offers a point of entry into a Laotian historiography that is critical of a monolithic Western history of Laos.

The Bandoeng Conference of 1937: A Milestone in Health and Development

The Bandoeng Conference of 1937: A Milestone in Health and Development

Constructing ‘Peaceful Coexistence’: China's Diplomacy toward the Geneva and Bandung Conferences, 1954–55

In the heyday of the Cold War, China remained confrontational toward the United States and other Western powers but at the same time seemed conciliatory toward Asian nations. This was largely reflected in Beijing's diplomacy of ‘peaceful coexistence’ and ‘united front’ at the Geneva and Bandung conferences. Based on recently declassified archives and material in China and probing into the insights of China's foreign policy calculations in the mid-1950s, this article argues that, through actively participating in multilateral diplomacy, the Chinese leaders expected to construct an image of a ‘normal state’ and play a leading role in normalizing international politics in Asia.

The First Vietnam War: colonial conflict and Cold War crisis

Acknowledgments Abbreviations 1. Introduction Mark Atwood Lawrence and Fredrik Logevall Part I. The First Vietnam War in History 2. Making Sense of the French War: The Postcolonial Moment and the First Vietnam War, 1945-1954 Mark Philip Bradley 3. Vietnamese Historians and the First Indochina War Lien-Hang T. Nguyen Part II. From One War to Another 4. Franklin Roosevelt, Trusteeship, and Indochina: A Reassessment Stein Tonnesson 5. Creating Defense Capacity in Vietnam, 1945-1947 David G. Marr 6. Forging the Great Combination: Britain and the Indochina Problem, 1945-1950 Mark Atwood Lawrence 7. French Imperial Reconstruction and the Development of the Indochina War, 1945-1950 Martin Thomas Part III. Colonialism and Cold War 8. Ho Chi Minh and the Strategy of People's War William J. Duiker 9. The Declining Value of Indochina: France and the Economics of Empire, 1950-1955 Laurent Cesari 10. France, the United States, and Indochina Marilyn B. Young Part IV. The End of the French War and the Coming of the Americans 11. Assessing Dien Bien Phu John Prados 12. China and the Indochina Settlement at the Geneva Conference of 1954 Chen Jian 13. After Geneva: The French Presence in Vietnam, 1954-1963 Kathryn C. Statler 14. Chronicle of a War Foretold: The United States and Vietnam, 1945-1954 Andrew J. Rotter Notes Contributors Index

Didactics — Learning and Teaching in Europe

The place of didactics, learning and teaching has been the subject of discussion within the European Educational Research Association (EERA) for several years. Significant steps were taken in 2006 at the conference in Geneva to advance this work through the organisation of an Invited Plenary Panel and an Opening Symposium as the first steps towards establishing a new EERA Network in this field. These initiatives received strong support and led to the establishment of Network 27 on Didactics – Learning and Teaching. The articles in this special issue of EERJ are based on contributions made by the authors to the Opening Symposium and Plenary Panel at the European Conference on Educational Research (ECER) in Geneva in 2006. Whilst issues related to teaching, learning and subject content are central to pedagogical practices, associated discussions have tended to be fragmented. This fragmentation can be reinforced by institutional structures, particular policy initiatives, the strength of some discourse communities and the relative weaknesses of others. EERA Network 27 on Didactics – Learning and Teaching has been established with the aim of providing a space for dialogue for integrating such discussions, and this issue of EERJ is intended to provide a record of the starting point and to support the process of widening the debate. We hope this space will attract interest from educational researchers with interests in pedagogical practices, curriculum, student learning and the teaching of specific subject areas. This issue of EERJ comes at a time of growing interest in teaching and learning at an international level, including particular interest in questions related to associated research and scholarship. Against this background are the long traditions within continental Europe when it comes to such questions. For example, the tradition of Didaktik can be traced back to John Amos Comenius in the seventeenth century though there is little discussion of didactics as such in the English-speaking educational community. Discussions about the nature of didactics, learning and teaching have taken on different characteristics in different national contexts and development has been especially strong in the domain of subject didactics. Furthermore, associated ideas have influenced the development of teacher education significantly in several countries within continental Europe over recent years. For these reasons we believe that it is timely to create a space for dialogue in order to share perspectives and questions collectively as an EERA community in relation to the advancement of research and scholarship in the field of didactics, learning and teaching. This issue includes articles based on the presentations made at the ECER in Geneva by Stefan Hopmann, Michel Caillot, Yves Chevallard, Brian Hudson, Kirsti Klette and Meinert A. Meyer. Stefan Hopmann traces the origin of Didaktik back to the ideas of students’ activity (Socrates), in a disciplinary setting (Hugh of Saint Victor), with a certain order of knowledge (Thomas Aquinas) and necessary choice of subject matter (Comenius). In the German context, Didaktik, in its different forms, can be described as systematic reflection about how to organise teaching in a

ILO to Promote Global Asbestos Ban

The International Labour Office (ILO) is to pursue a global ban on asbestos, the world's biggest ever industrial killer. The landmark decision came with the adoption of a resolution on 14 June 2006 at the ILO conference in Geneva and followed a high level union campaign. Rory O'Neill asked Jukka Takala, director of ILO's Safe Work program, what ILO will now do to help make the world asbestos-free.

Australia's Response to the Indochina Crisis of 1954 amidst the Anglo-American Confrontation

Meeting in Berlin in February 1954, the Great Powers decided to convene an international conference in Geneva in April to discuss the restoration of peace in Indochina and thereby opened the door to a crisis. Their decision triggered a Vietnamese communist offensive against the French union forces at Dien Bien Phu, and a subsequent US proposal for multilateral military intervention which put great strain upon Anglo-American relations. This article examines Australia's response to the Indochina crisis of 1954 amidst the Anglo-American confrontation, focusing on the disagreement between the UK and USA with its origins in their different assessments of the will of the French and Vietnamese to continue fighting; on the impetus that events such as the Berlin conference gave to Australia to redefine its own position on Indochina; and on the (relatively minor) role which Australia, as the military situation in Indochina worsened, played in assisting the US to alter its proposal for allied military intervention.

EHPnet: International Maritime Organization

Vol. 114, No. 4 EnvironewsOpen AccessEHPnet: International Maritime Organization Erin E. Dooley Erin E. Dooley Search for more papers by this author Published:1 April 2006https://doi.org/10.1289/ehp.114-a219AboutSectionsPDF ToolsDownload CitationsTrack Citations ShareShare onFacebookTwitterLinked InReddit In 1948 an international conference in Geneva adopted a convention formally establishing what is today called the International Maritime Organization (IMO). The IMO initially worked mainly to ensure maritime safety, but after a 1967 spill of 100,000 tons of crude oil off the southern coast of England, the organization began focusing attention on alleviating the environmental impacts of the shipping industry. Today the IMO has devoted a section of its website at http://www.imo.org/home.asp to these environmental programs.The Marine Environment section, accessible through the menu at the top of the IMO homepage, provides an overview of how the IMO works to regulate and prevent marine pollution by ships, with links to in-depth information on the applicable international treaties. The first such treaty is the International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships (MARPOL 73/78), which was adopted in 1973 and modified in 1978. This treaty governs accidental and operational oil pollution as well as pollution by chemicals, packaged goods, sewage, garbage, and air pollution. The 1990 International Convention on Oil Pollution Preparedness, Response and Co-operation calls on parties to establish measures for reporting and handling oil pollution incidents. The IMO also serves as secretariat for the Convention on the Prevention of Marine Pollution by Dumping of Wastes and Other Matter, which was adopted in 1972.A list of links on the Marine Environment page leads to other topics of interest. The Ship Recycling page has a detailed overview of the IMO’s moves to govern the disassembly and recycling of ships. Although the organization adopted recommended guidelines on ship recycling in 2003, the IMO’s senior technical body agreed in 2005 to develop legally binding regulations for the design, construction, operation, and preparation of ships to enable safer and more environmentally sound recycling, along with rules for enforcing the instrument. The Ship Recycling page also has links to an IMO article on ship recycling, to pages on the current guidelines for ship recycling, and to the website for the joint IMO/International Labour Organization/Basel Convention Working Group on Ship Scrapping.The Prevention of Pollution section has links to pages on specific forms of pollution covered by the conventions that the IMO is responsible for (such as oil pollution, chemical pollution, sewage, and air pollution). These pages provide information on the specific protocols that govern each area, background on the pollution source and the problems it can cause, and details about how the treaties came about. Within this section there is also a page about shipboard pollution prevention equipment required under MARPOL 73/78.The Ballast Water Management section includes information on the International Convention for the Control and Management of Ships’ Ballast Water and Sediments, which was adopted in February 2004, as well as information in seven languages on other IMO guidelines covering this subject. There is also an external link to the site for the Global Ballast Water Management Programme, a partnership between the IMO, the UN Development Programme, and the Global Environment Facility that seeks to help developing countries understand the problem of ballast contamination and prepare to implement the convention.FiguresReferencesRelatedDetails Vol. 114, No. 4 April 2006Metrics About Article Metrics Publication History Originally published1 April 2006Published in print1 April 2006 Financial disclosuresPDF download License information EHP is an open-access journal published with support from the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, National Institutes of Health. All content is public domain unless otherwise noted. Note to readers with disabilities EHP strives to ensure that all journal content is accessible to all readers. However, some figures and Supplemental Material published in EHP articles may not conform to 508 standards due to the complexity of the information being presented. If you need assistance accessing journal content, please contact [email protected]. Our staff will work with you to assess and meet your accessibility needs within 3 working days.

Saving refugees or saving borders? Southeast Asian States and the Indochinese refugee crisis

This article charts the response of Southeast Asian states to the Indochinese refugee crisis between 1975 and the 1979 Geneva conference. The purpose of this article is to understand why the outbreak of Southeast Asia's largest refugee crisis since World War II did not prompt the region's states to accede to international refugee law. It is argued that most Southeast Asian states continued to reject international refugee law during this period because they believed that their interests were best served by this policy. That is, Southeast Asian states conducted a form of ‘refugee manipulation’ because their persistent refusal to sign the instruments compelled Western states (the United States in particular) to provide material assistance to the refugees and offer resettlement places. Thus, the Southeast Asian states' strategy placed the onus for responding to the crisis on international institutions and Western states. Furthermore, many Southeast Asian states justified their refusal to sign the instruments by referring to the latter's Eurocentric character. Ultimately, this argument allowed many of the region's states to absolve themselves of responsibility for taking the lead in responding to the crisis.

Atoms for Peace, Scientific Internationalism, and Scientific Intelligence

Abstract The promotion of the benign atom as an instrument of American foreign policy and hegemonic ambitions was important to scientists and policy makers alike who sought to win “hearts and minds” in the early years of the cold war. The distribution of radioisotopes to friendly nations for research and medicinal purposes in the late 1940s was followed by Eisenhower’s far more spectacular Atoms for Peace initiative, announced at the United Nations in December 1953. This chapter describes the polyvalent significance of the diffusion first of radioisotopes, then of reactor technology, notably at the famous conference in Geneva in 1955. It places particular emphasis on the role of scientists and their appeal to scientific internationalism to promote national scientific leadership. It is stressed that openness and security, sharing knowledge or technology and implementing regimes of surveillance, were two sides of the same coin.

Double Anniversary: Miracles and Peace

In celebration of Albert Einstein’s “miraculous year” of 1905, this year, 2005, is deservedly recognized as the World Year of Physics and also as the International Year of Physics. This year also deserves recognition as the 50th anniversary of the First Geneva Conference on the Peaceful Uses of Atomic Energy—a conference that marked the public debut of global concern about our energy future, the public unveiling of the fusion energy program, and a thaw in Soviet–American relations. Conferences like it, which concern themselves with global energy problems and serve as meeting grounds for political adversaries, are particularly valuable. May they continue to flourish.© 2005 American Institute of Physics.

India's Commitment to Peaceful Coexistence and the Settlement of the Indochina War

India could not be a passive onlooker of the Indochina War since it involved many basic principles of its foreign policy principles such as its opposition to colonialist and neo-colonialist activities of Western powers in Asia and the relevance of non-alignment as a diplomatic tool to ensure peaceful coexistence. India emerged as a force of proposals to reckon with in the search for a peaceful settlement between the contending parties before and during the Geneva Conference. In spite of adverse developments, the application of the Geneva agreements assumed great importance as they represented a validation of India's approach to crisis resolution. The article focuses on the reasons underlying India's intervention, an analysis of its interests and the view taken by other international players of this activism.

Behram N. Kursunoglu

Behram N. Kursunoglu

Education in Cambodia: highland minorities in the present context of development

Click to increase image sizeClick to decrease image size Notes Paper prepared for the HPP/ILO Conference on Grass Roots Development, 1997. Project Activities for Highland Peoples Development in the North‐east of Cambodia. Chiang Mai Workshop, 17–21 November 1997. In July 1954, the Geneva Conference on Indochina accorded recognition of Cambodia's independence. The period of 1941–1955 is called the first Kingdom of Cambodia. In March 1955, Sihanouk left the throne to his father and established the popular socialist society called Sangkum Reastr Niyum, or ‘Sangkum’ (‘the society that people like’) ( CCCP. , 1981). The Sangkum Reastr Niyum era extended from 1955 to 1970 (Pen ). Vaizey writes, ‘In conjunction with the modernization paradigm of development, Sihanouk seems to have believed that the way to economic growth and prosperity was through an educated workforce’ (Vaizey ) Chandler writes, ‘Perhaps the most positive aspect of the ramshackle ideology he called “Buddhist socialist” was his large expenditures on education (20 percent of the national budget)’ (Chandler ). The result of Sihanouk education reform was that ‘the education system increased quantitatively by 25% annually’ (Kierman ).