Norodom Sihanouk

Norodom Sihanouk (1922–2012) was crowned King of Cambodia in 1941 under French colonial rule and went on to dominate Cambodian politics for more than six decades. He led the "Royal Crusade for Independence," securing full sovereignty from France in 1953, and in 1955 abdicated the throne in favor of his father so he could enter electoral politics, founding the Sangkum Reastr Niyum (People's Socialist Community) movement. As prime minister and later head of state, he pursued a policy of neutrality and non-alignment, hosting the 1961 Belgrade-era diplomacy and attempting to keep Cambodia out of the widening Vietnam War.

His balancing act collapsed in March 1970, when General Lon Nol and Prince Sisowath Sirik Matak deposed him while he was abroad, establishing the Khmer Republic. From exile in Beijing, Sihanouk allied with the communist Khmer Rouge through the GRUNK government-in-exile, a decision that lent the insurgency crucial nationalist legitimacy. After the Khmer Rouge took Phnom Penh in April 1975, he briefly served as nominal head of state of Democratic Kampuchea before resigning in 1976 and being placed under house arrest until Vietnam's invasion in 1979.

Through the 1980s he led the Coalition Government of Democratic Kampuchea (CGDK), recognized at the UN, while negotiations dragged on toward a settlement. The 1991 Paris Peace Agreements restored him to a central role, and following UNTAC-supervised elections in 1993 he was reinstated as king of a restored constitutional monarchy. He abdicated a second time in 2004 in favor of his son, Norodom Sihamoni, and died in Beijing in October 2012.

Sihanouk remains a deeply contested figure: credited with achieving independence and embodying Cambodian sovereignty, but also criticized for authoritarian tendencies in the 1960s and for legitimizing the Khmer Rouge during the 1970s civil war.