Die Revolution frisst ihre Kinder. Mangelnde Legitimation, pädagogische Gewalt und organisierter Terror unter den Roten Khmer

Abstract

The article shows how the dynamics of violence under the Khmer Rouge regime were intimately linked to the unusual process of seizing power in the war-ridden country. The central thesis is that the Khmer Rouge were facing a fundamental lack of legitimation in the eyes of the population and their own movement, which made it necessary for the leadership to transform the people into ‚true‟, loyal socialist subjects. The party, which strenghtened itself by incorporating many different military factions during the civil war, was fighting for power and control in the country and its own divided movement. The major problem and the upshot of violence under the Khmer Rouge was that the population and the movement‟s own members were far from being faithful socialists. Hence, to transform the people into loyal subjects, which would keep the communist party in power, the regime installed a complex system of terror aimed at the correction of the „rebellious‟ and „deluded‟ psyche. Michel Foucault‟s analysis of techniques of subjugation helps to explain how the regime tried to transform and control its people. In order to build a new society, Angkar attempted to build new people.