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Transnationalizing the ‘Moral neoliberal’? Private aid initiatives in Cambodia

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journal contribution
posted on 2023-06-09, 20:39 authored by Anne-Meike FechterAnne-Meike Fechter
Within South East Asia, informal, non-state development actors have become more prominent. The case of small-scale, private aid activities in Cambodia offers the opportunity to reflect on how state frameworks and interventions matter for such projects. Typically, theories of how a state encourages its citizens’ pro-social behaviour while retracting is own commitments, view this within a single nation state. Citizen aid in Cambodia, however, is often characterised by collaborations between national and international peers, and relies, to some extent, on resource flows along those networks. It encourages us to think through such approaches transnationally. This means broadening the analytical framework of the ‘moral neoliberal' (Muehlebach 2012, The Moral Neoliberal: Welfare and Citizenship in Italy. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press) to account for the fact that activities of thus-responsibilised citizens expand beyond the confines of their nation state. In the Cambodian case, a lack of public service provision, combined with a hitherto loosely regulated third sector, have created conditions where such initiatives have proliferated. The case of private aid thus challenges the scope of ‘moral neoliberal', as conceived within the framework of a nation state, as it leaves out of sight those ‘ethical citizens’ who are active transnationally.

Funding

Alternative Actors in Development? Understanding the Role of 'Do-It-Yourself Aid'; G1103; LEVERHULME TRUST; RF-2013-535

History

Publication status

  • Published

File Version

  • Accepted version

Journal

South East Asia Research

ISSN

0967-828X

Publisher

SAGE Publishing

Issue

1

Volume

20

Page range

87-102

Department affiliated with

  • Anthropology Publications

Research groups affiliated with

  • Sussex Centre for Migration Research Publications

Full text available

  • Yes

Peer reviewed?

  • Yes

Legacy Posted Date

2020-02-18

First Open Access (FOA) Date

2020-04-23

First Compliant Deposit (FCD) Date

2020-02-18

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