This thesis examines the effects of U.S. foreign policy upon the lives of ordinary Cambodians from 1945-1993. It concludes that U.S. policies in Southeast Asia systematically destabilized Cambodia both politically and economically, contributed to the development and victory of the Communist Party of Kampuchea in 1975, and helped to delay Cambodia's recovery from the Khmer Rouge genocide until 1993. It also examines the factors that influenced U.S. foreign policy towards Cambodia and finds that local Cambodian issues were rarely taken into account by U.S. policymakers, and that U.S. policy...