Can education bring democracy to Cambodia? A case study of the potential of Sweden’s and the European Union’s development assistance to Cambodia’s education sector

Abstract: This thesis utilises congruence analysis to investigate if education can be expected to contribute to democratisation in Cambodia, and if Sweden’s and the EU’s development assistance to Cambodia’s education sector can be considered to contribute to democratisation. The study identifies six causal mechanisms in current literature that links education to democratisation. The conditions for each mechanism are compared with the situation in Cambodia. The results illustrate the uncertainty and limitations of available theory and empirical evidence. According to theory, Cambodia’s universal access to primary education, expansion of higher education, an emerging middle class and wide-spread access to internet and social media promote democratisation. However, considering the mixed findings in literature, the quality issues and poor academic outcomes which hamper Cambodia’s education system, as well as the country’s political and socio-economic context, it is difficult to establish with certainty that education is contributing to democratisation. The study finds that the impact of Swedish and European development assistance to education have been more limited than expected, mainly due to political and institutional factors. In all, while education provides opportunities for individuals, the effect on democratisation can be questioned.