Democratic Kampuchea

**Kampuchea**
កម្ពុជា (Khmer)
(1975–1976)
**Democratic Kampuchea**
កម្ពុជាប្រជាធិបតេយ្យ (Khmer)
(1976–1979)
Kampuchea; កម្ពុជា (Khmer); (1975–1976) Democratic Kampuchea; កម្ពុជាប្រជាធិបតេយ្យ (Khmer); (1976–1979)
1975–1979
	Flag (1976–1979) Emblem (1976–1979)
	Anthem: ដប់ប្រាំពីរមេសាមហាជោគជ័យ; Dâb Prămpir Mésa Môha Choŭkchoăy; "Victorious Seventeenth of April"; (1976–1979)
	Location of Democratic Kampuchea
Capital and largest city	Phnom Penh
Common languages	Khmer
Religion	State atheism
Government	Unitary Maoist one-party socialist republic under a totalitarian dictatorship
CPK General Secretary
• 1975–1979	Pol Pot
Head of state
• 1975–1976	Norodom Sihanouk
• 1976–1979	Khieu Samphan
Prime Minister
• 1975–1976	Penn Nouth
• 1976	Khieu Samphan (acting)
• 1976	Pol Pot
• 1976	Nuon Chea (acting)
• 1976–1979	Pol Pot
Legislature	People's Representative Assembly
Historical era	Cold War
• Khmer Rouge capture of Phnom Penh	17 April 1975
• Constitution established	5 January 1976
• Start of Vietnamese invasion	21 December 1978
• Vietnamese capture of Phnom Penh	7 January 1979
• CGDK established	22 June 1982
Currency	None; monetary system abolished
Time zone	UTC+07:00 (ICT)
Date format	dd/mm/yyyy
Preceded by	Succeeded by
	1975:; Khmer Republic
	1976:; GRUNK
1979:; People's Republic of Kampuchea
1982:; Coalition Government of Democratic Kampuchea
Today part of	Cambodia

Democratic Kampuchea^[a] was the official name of the Cambodian state from 1976 to 1979, under the government of Pol Pot and the Communist Party of Kampuchea (CPK), commonly known as the Khmer Rouge. The Khmer Rouge's capture of the capital Phnom Penh in 1975 effectively ended the United States-backed Khmer Republic of Lon Nol.

From 1975 to 1979, the Khmer Rouge's one-party regime killed millions of its own people through mass executions, forced labour, and starvation, in an event which has come to be known as the Cambodian genocide. The killings ended when the Khmer Rouge were ousted from Phnom Penh by the People's Army of Vietnam (PAVN). The Khmer Rouge subsequently established a government-in-exile in neighbouring Thailand and retained Kampuchea's seat at the United Nations (UN). In response, Vietnamese-backed communists created a rival government, the People's Republic of Kampuchea, but failed to gain international recognition.

In 1982, the Khmer Rouge established the Coalition Government of Democratic Kampuchea (CGDK) with two non-communist guerrilla factions, broadening the exiled government of Democratic Kampuchea.^[6] The exiled government renamed itself the National Government of Cambodia in 1990, in the run-up to the UN-sponsored 1991 Paris Peace Agreements.

^ "Cambodia – Religion". Britannica. Archived from the original on 15 July 2015. Retrieved 29 June 2020.
^ Zúquete, José Pedro (2023). Zúquete, José Pedro (ed.). The Palgrave Handbook of Left-Wing Extremism. Vol. 2. Lisboa, Portugal: Palgrave Macmillan. p. 186. doi:10.1007/978-3-031-36268-2. ISBN 978-3-031-36268-2. The focus here is on Communist Parties that fought for independence and political power, but as these cases show, only one such party—the Communist Party of Kampuchea (CPK)—fits the description of left-wing extremism. Others certainly envisioned, devised, and even implemented radical programs and oversaw often violent political purges of enemies, whether real or imagined. But nowhere in the region do we witness as clear-cut a case of left-wing extremism as we do in Democratic Kampuchea, where the CPK implemented its Maoist vision to the tune of mass displacement, surreptitious detention, perpetual surveillance, torture, and genocide from 1975 to 1979 (Kiernan 2008; Galway 2022: 159– 199; Chandler 1991: 236–272).
^ Jackson, Karl D. (1989). Cambodia, 1975–1978: Rendezvous with Death. Princeton University Press. p. 219. ISBN 0-691-02541-X.
^ "Khmer Rouge's Slaughter in Cambodia Is Ruled a Genocide". The New York Times. 15 November 2018. Archived from the original on 13 April 2019. Retrieved 13 April 2019.
^ Kiernan, B. (2004) How Pol Pot came to Power. New Haven: Yale University Press, p. xix
^ "Cambodia – COALITION GOVERNMENT OF DEMOCRATIC KAMPUCHEA". countrystudies.us. Archived from the original on 5 August 2011. Retrieved 3 October 2020.

Cite error: There are <ref group=lower-alpha> tags or {{efn}} templates on this page, but the references will not show without a {{reflist|group=lower-alpha}} template or {{notelist}} template (see the help page).

[1] "Cambodia – Religion". Britannica. Archived from the original on 15 July 2015. Retrieved 29 June 2020.

[2] Zúquete, José Pedro (2023). Zúquete, José Pedro (ed.). The Palgrave Handbook of Left-Wing Extremism. Vol. 2. Lisboa, Portugal: Palgrave Macmillan. p. 186. doi:10.1007/978-3-031-36268-2. ISBN 978-3-031-36268-2. The focus here is on Communist Parties that fought for independence and political power, but as these cases show, only one such party—the Communist Party of Kampuchea (CPK)—fits the description of left-wing extremism. Others certainly envisioned, devised, and even implemented radical programs and oversaw often violent political purges of enemies, whether real or imagined. But nowhere in the region do we witness as clear-cut a case of left-wing extremism as we do in Democratic Kampuchea, where the CPK implemented its Maoist vision to the tune of mass displacement, surreptitious detention, perpetual surveillance, torture, and genocide from 1975 to 1979 (Kiernan 2008; Galway 2022: 159– 199; Chandler 1991: 236–272).

[3] Jackson, Karl D. (1989). Cambodia, 1975–1978: Rendezvous with Death. Princeton University Press. p. 219. ISBN 0-691-02541-X.

[4] "Khmer Rouge's Slaughter in Cambodia Is Ruled a Genocide". The New York Times. 15 November 2018. Archived from the original on 13 April 2019. Retrieved 13 April 2019.

[kiernanxix-5] Kiernan, B. (2004) How Pol Pot came to Power. New Haven: Yale University Press, p. xix

[7] "Cambodia – COALITION GOVERNMENT OF DEMOCRATIC KAMPUCHEA". countrystudies.us. Archived from the original on 5 August 2011. Retrieved 3 October 2020.

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