This thesis proposes to outline the historico-ideological background of both the Democratic Kampuchean regime and religion. While totalitarian regimes are not exceptional in the 20th century, each instance is in fact singular. To this end the bifurcating path taken by modern Cambodian nationalism, since its inception in the 1930's under the auspices of Son Ngoc Thanh in collaboration with the Buddhist clergy, to its culmination in the DK cult, constitutes the main body of the text. Among the general propositions structuring this present work are the following. Primo, that in contemporary society the barriers and the division of labour between what is religion and what is secular are not only flexible but increasingly difficult to define. One many further argue that in Asiatic religions such was always the case. Secondo, that the Democratic Kampuchean (DK) enterprise of 1975-1979 developed a quasi-religion in the broad sense of the term. Lastly, that there was a movement toward the establishment of a personality cult around the figure of Pol Pot which was interrupted by the escalation of war with Vietnam.
