Publisher: Princeton University Press
Series: Princeton Studies in International History and Politics
Description: How undetonated bombs from a war that ended more than fifty years ago still affect Cambodian farmers and their land
Over the course of the Vietnam War, the United States dropped 500,000 tons of bombs over Cambodia—more than the combined weight of every man, woman, and child in the country. What began as a secret CIA infiltration of Laos eventually expanded into Cambodia and escalated into a nine-year war over the Ho Chi Minh trail fought primarily with bombs. Fifty years after the last sortie, residents of rural Cambodia are still coping with the unexploded ordnance that covers their land. In When the Bombs Stopped, Erin Lin investigates the consequences of the US bombing campaign across post-conflict Cambodia.
Drawing on interviews, original econometric analysis, and extensive fieldwork, Lin upends the usual scholarly perspective on the war and its aftermath, presenting the viewpoint of those who suffered the bombing rather than those who dropped the bombs. She shows that Cambodian farmers stay at a subsistence level because much of their land is too dangerous to cultivate—and yet, paradoxically, the same bombs that endanger and impoverish farming communities also protect them, deterring predatory elites from grabbing and commodifying their land. Lin argues that the half-century legacy of American bombs has sedimented the war into the layers of contemporary Cambodian society. Policies aimed at developing or modernizing Cambodia, whether economic liberalization or authoritarian consolidation, must be realized in an environment haunted by the violence of the past. As the stories Lin captures show, the bombing served as a critical juncture in these farming villages, marking the place in time where development stopped.
Interviews and Media Coverage
“Erin Lin Discusses When the Bombs Stopped: The Legacy of War in Rural Cambodia,” Voices of Excellence, podcast, December 11, 2024.
“When the Bombs Stopped,” New Books in Political Science, podcast, June 28, 2024.
“When the Bombs Stopped with Dr. Erin Lin,” Thip Khao Talk, podcast, April 18, 2024.
Events
Monday, March 10, 2025, TBD. International Relations Workshop. University of Maryland, College Park.
Tuesday, March 4, 2025, 1:45PM CT. Book roundtable and theme panel. International Studies Association, Annual Conference. Chicago, IL.
Thursday, February 27, 2025, 12PM CT. Book talk. Comparative Politics Workshop. Vanderbilt University.
Thursday, February 20, 2025, TBD. Book talk. Comparative Politics Colloquium. University of California, San Diego.
Friday, January 31, 2025, 11AM MT. Book talk. Violence and Development Workshop. University of Colorado, Boulder.
Monday, December 2, 2024, 12PM ET. "Research Ethics in War.” Panel participant. Ohio State’s Center for Ethics and Human Values. Video Recording.
Wednesday, November 20, 2024, 3:30PM ET. Book talk. Burkle Center for International Relations and Department of Political Science. University of California, Los Angeles. Video Recording.