Underpinned by a rare era of political stability and rapidly improving economic ties with China, Southeast Asia and the West, Cambodia is gearing up for a decade of high growth and improved living standards.
Tourism, and to a lesser extent the country’s garment industry, will provide the biggest share of income to government coffers alongside foreign aid. However, higher contributions are also forecast from the mining and oil sector, and rubber and palm oil plantations.

With 11 years of post-war reconstruction now behind it and Hun Sen firmly entrenched as Cambodia’s democratically elected prime minister, Cambodians should also benefit from stock market plans that, with a raft of laws expected to pass, will support foreign investment.

The political and economic landscape is solid but corruption, a culture of impunity among the ruling elites and compromises within the legal system have proved difficult to eradicate.

Elections are expected in 2013 and 2018 when a growing youth vote, particularly in the cities, will provide the biggest challenge to Hun Sen and his Cambodian People’s Party (CPP). Youth unemployment is looming as a potentially explosive issue.

Domestically, the country will also have to contend with the on-going Khmer Rouge Tribunal. The tribunal has enjoyed only mixed support from within CPP ranks and will form a prominent backdrop to Cambodian life for perhaps another three to five years.

The 57-year-old prime minister has ruled in his own right since 1997. Three decades of conflict ended a year later and since then, political opposition has proven ineffectual amid allegations of CPP intimidation.
Hun Sen has been quite public in stating he’d like to continue as prime minister into his 70s. Meanwhile, his son, Hun Manet, has been touted as a potential leader in the longer term.

Internationally, China will continue to increase its influence at the expense of the United States and the West. Cross-border tensions with Thailand could have damaging consequences, while relations with Vietnam will remain testy.

Luke Hunt is a Southeast Asia-based correspondent and contributor to The Diplomat.