Panel discussion with Kimhean Hok and Karin Zackari.

Can we make sense of a seemingly senseless conflict between two neighbors? Thailand and Cambodia, two Southeast Asian countries, that at the look of it have everything to gain from peacefully coexisting, are caught up in a border conflict that has cost lives, displaced hundreds of thousands, and disrupted livelihoods on both sides of the border. 

The panel will trace the over 130-year-old land dispute up to the present. We will answer questions about what is really disputed, the role of national politics in both countries, what triggered the flare-up in May 2025, and how the five-day war in July differs from previous clashes. Drawing on long-term engagement with political and social developments in Cambodia and Thailand, the panel offers grounded perspectives on the conflict and assesses what the future might hold for communities whose lives continue to be shaped by violence and animosity. 

 

Kimhean Hok is a doctoral researcher at the Centre for East and Southeast Asian Studies, Lund University. His research focuses on contemporary Cambodian politics and governance. He is from Banteay Meanchey province, along Cambodia’s northwest border with Sa Kaeo, Thailand - now a key flashpoint in the ongoing conflict.

Ph.D. Karin Zackari is a human rights scholar specializing in Thai contemporary history, who has written about Thai nationalism and state violence. She is a researcher at the Center for East and Southeast Asian Studies in a project on academic freedom in Thailand. As a child she lived in Aranyaprathet, Sa Kaeo Province in Thailand, during the Cambodian civil war, and she was on a research trip to Thailand when the war broke out in July 2025.