Foreign Direct Investment and Capacity Building: The Different Attitudes and Results Experienced by Cambodia and Japan from an Historical to a Modern Perspective

Abstract

This paper will consider the processes and outcomes of two nations, Cambodia and Japan, in their quest for foreign ideas and people to assist in their development. It will also consider the preservation of national cultures while experiencing the actual presence of foreign nationals – with all the cultural and religious norms which come with people of radically different backgrounds and expectations. This paper compares the historical lessons to be learned from two countries, Cambodia and Japan from 1600 to the present day.

There are remarkable similiarities (the same period of obscurity from the mid 17th Century to mid 19th Century) and the decade that both countries opened up to trade was the same: 1860s – although in quite different ways. These different ways of opening up and learning from the 200 ‘’missed’’ years provides deep insights into the way events shaped Japan and Cambodia and how those two countries shaped events.