The exciting, action-filled and often brutal history of Cambodia is one of a country in search of its sovereignty. It is also the history of a country in search of a currency uniquely its own to serve as the instrument of genuine autonomy. This book likes these dual aspirations, the steps forward and steps backward, in pursuit of sovereignty, providing a striking correlation and points to ponder even today. At times, a “national” currency was sidelined to consolidate or preserve national power. At times, the skid-offs of sovereignty and the institutions that are its vehicle ended up damaging hopes of social and economic development on which political consensus can be based. Then the very destruction of money itself meant the radical demolition of human references and values. The features of Cambodia’s new sovereignty illustrate in their own way the topicality of this interaction. Sovereignty was reacquired first in the isolation imposed on the People’s Republic of Kampuchea, then with the massive assistance of those who had previously ostracized it. Now the country is left to cope with the dollarization resulting from it.