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Sok Udom Deth

Portrait of Sok Udom   Deth

Dr. Sok Udom Deth ដេត សុខឧត្តម is the COO of the Paragon Education Co., Ltd and a full Professor of International Relations at Paragon International University (formerly Zaman University), Phnom Penh, Cambodia, specializing in modern Southeast Asian Studies.

With a B.A. in Sociology, Boğaziçi University, Istanbul, Turkey (2006), a M.A. in Southeast Asian Studies, Ohio University, USA (2009) and a Ph.D in Southeast Asian Studies, Humboldt University of Berlin, Germany (2014), he is a member of the Board of Academic Advisors of Future Forum and a Senior Fellow at the Cambodian Institute for Cooperation and Peace (CICP). 

Dr. Deth has been invited to give guest lectures at various institutions/​universities, and to comment Cambodian and regional affairs in local and international media. Occasionally, he shares his insights on local and regional media about Cambodian and regional affairs as well. During the 2025 border crisis between Thailand and Cambodia, he pleaded for a negotiation-based, diplomatic and long-term solution.

In 2024, he was awarded the Global Community Innovator Award by New York-based NGO Global Tassel.

Publications

  1. “The Geopolitics of Cambodia during the Cold War Period,” Explorations, Vol. 9 (Spring 2009): 47 – 53.
  2. “The Rise and Fall of Democratic Kampuchea,” Education About Asia, Vol. 14, No. 3 (Winter 2009): 27 – 30.
  3. [with Serkan Bulut] ​“Civil-Military Relations and Coup Risk in the 21st Century: A Comparative Analysis of Turkey and Thailand’s Bumpy Roads to Democracy.” Journal of Business Economics and Political Science 2 (2013): 11 – 26.
  4. “Review of Inside Pol Pot’s Secret Prison.” Education About Asia 20, no. 1 (2015): 70 – 71.
  5. [with Serkan Bulut & Kairat Moldashev] ​“The Contemporary Geopolitics of Cambodia in Regional and Global Contexts”, in Simon Springer & Katherine Brickell (eds.), The Routledge Handbook of Contemporary Cambodia. London: Routledge, 2016.
  6. [with Daniel Bultmann] ​“The Afterglow of Hun Sen’s Cambodia? Socio-Economic Development, Political Change and the Persistence of Inequalities.” In Twenty-first Century Globalization, Democracy and Alternative Futures: Challenges and Responses from Southeast Asia, edited by Boike Rehbein, S. Wunkaeo and C. B. Wungaeo, 87 – 109. Besingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2016.
  7. “Voices from Cambodia. Discourses on the Preah Vihear Conflict” [Response to Volker Grabowsky, ​“Heritage and Nationalism in the Preah Vihear Dispute”, SEATIDE Online Paper 3, Research Report EFEO/​Université de Hambourg, 2016. 
  8. [with Soun Sun & Serkan Bulut (eds.)] Cambodia’s Foreign Relations in Regional and Global Contexts. Phnom Penh: Konrad Adenauer Stiftung, 2017.
  9. Is Cambodia Ready to Go Nuclear?” The Asia Dialogue, 2017.
  10. “Cambodia-Thailand Relations: From Hostility to Harmony?” In Cambodia’s Foreign Relations in Regional and Global Contexts, edited by Sok Udom Deth, Soun Sun and Serkan Bulut, 24 – 49. Phnom Penh: Konrad Adenauer Stiftung, 2017.
  11. “Cambodia-India Relations in the Context of ​‘Act East’ Policy.” In Delhi Dialogue IX: Charting the Course for India-ASEAN Relations for the Next 25 Years, edited by Harsh V. Pant. New Delhi: Observer Research Foundation, 2018.
  12. [with Annaliza D. S. Tuazon] ​“Erdoğan’s Turkey: Peace Built on Sand?,” Journal of Human Rights and Peace Studies Vol. 4 – 9 (2018): 99 – 134.
  13. “Labor Migration in the Greater Mekong Sub-Region: The Case of Cambodian Migrant Workers in Thailand.” Journal of Greater Mekong Studies (JGMS), No. 1 (2019): 65 – 73.
  14. A History of Cambodia-Thailand Diplomatic Relations 1950 – 2020. Berlin & Phnom Penh: Galda Verlag, 2020.
  15. [with Bradley J. Murg, Ou Virak & Michael Renfrew] Cambodia 2040 (Vols 1, 2 & 3). Phnom Penh: Konrad Adenauer Stiftung and Future Forum, 2020.
  16. “With Great Power Comes Great Responsibility? Diplomatic Battle Amidst the COVID-19 Pandemic.” In The Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic: National & Regional Implications, edited by Charadine Pich and Robert Hor, 20 – 31. Phnom Penh: CICP-KAS Cambodia, 2020.
  17. “Cambodia’s Democracy: Prospect and Challenges.” The May 18 Memorial Foundation, April 2021. 
  18. “Cambodia Security Outlook 2022.” CSCAP Regional Security Outlook 2022, 67 – 69.
  19. “Tourism Recovery in the Mekong Region under Cambodia’s ASEAN Chairmanship.” Journal of Greater Mekong Studies 6 (2022): 39 – 45.
  20. [with Bradley J. Murg] ​“Cambodia-Taiwan Relations: Of Survival and Soft Power.” In Taiwan and Southeast Asia: Soft Power and Hard Truths Facing China’s Ascendancy, edited by Karl C. L. Lee and Ying-kit Chan, 29 – 39. London: Routledge, 2023.
  21. “The ASEAN Outlook on the Indo-Pacific (AOIP): Cambodia’s Perspective.” In ASEAN’s Outlook on the Indo-Pacific and US-China Rivalry, edited by Sothirak Pou, Bradley J. Murg, and Charadine Pich, 21 – 29. Phnom Penh: The Asia Foundation and the Cambodian Institute for Cooperation and Peace, 2023.
  22. “Cambodia-Thailand Diplomatic Quagmire: A Reader’s Guide” Journal of Greater Mekong Studies 8 (2025): 13 – 20.