The politics of Sanitation Development and Civil Society in Cambodia and India

Abstract

India and Cambodia have had among the lowest levels of sanitation development in the world and both have great disparities in terms of sanitation access, particularly in rural-urban terms. India's topographic diversity and sheer physical size sees great disparity in sanitation access among its Provinces. Cambodia also has great Provincial-level sanitation disparity. Despite these similarities between Cambodia and India's sanitation development, India has developed what is akin to a form of government-driven ‘sanitation nationalism', something that has not yet happened in Cambodia. India's nascent national obsession with sanitation and hygiene has been driven by both the government and NGO sectors. The BJP, under Narendra Modi, swept to power in 2014 with sanitation being a major issue in the campaign. In Cambodia, whilst there was a strong contest in the 2013 national elections, the opposition CNRP was later dissolved. Consequently, electoral contestation is not a driver for sanitation development being a major election issue in Cambodia as it was in India.