The Applied Political Philosophy of King Norodom Sihanouk

Abstract

The research article on the applied political philosophy of King Norodom Sihanouk has the objective s: (1) to study the concept of the applied political philosophy of King Norodom Sihanouk (2) to find out the practice of the concept of politics of King Norodom Sihanouk (3) to analyze the concept and practice of King Norodom Sihanouk’s political philosophy in the Cambodian societal context during his leadership in the period of 50s and 70s. This study was conducted by documentary research.
The research results were as follows:
1) Knowing about the concept of the applied political philosophy of the leadership of King Norodom Sihanouk, in which his leadership is based on the concept of the political philosophy of Buddhism, and follows up in accordance with the ten virtues of a leader, and four sublime states. Furthermore, it is not only ten virtues that, the study has found that King Norodom Sihanouk uses two basic concepts of philosophy: a) according to the principles of Buddhism. b) it is combined with the Brahmanism
concept, including the ancient Khmer belief system such as Totemic belief, and supernatural forces as well as to support the way of the leadership of His Majesty King Norodom Sihanouk.

2) This study reveals how King Norodom Sihanouk applied his political philosophy in the practical leadership approach and found that His Majesty King Norodom Sihanouk performed well until his common people praised him as a great King or so-called him the Righteous King or Dharmic Raja, which reflects that the practice of the ten duties of leader and the four sublime states, and this leading style can attractive of loving from the massive strongly support of the bottom of felt hearted people around the nation.

3) This study gained new knowledge from the applied political philosophy of King Norodom Sihanouk in the current social context, especially how to apply and reconcile in order for national harmony. Although respecting the neutral policy and non-aligned movement of King Norodom Sihanouk, if look at the practical knowledge from King Norodom Sihanouk, that is, flexibility in the geopolitical situation of the region and the globe is very significant mechanism to avoid the Kingdom of Cambodia from the geopolitical challenges, so the Buddhist thought was a central concept of his applied political philosophy.