[14] A joint French-Cambodian commission was set up after that to draft Cambodia's constitution,[15] and in April 1946 Sihanouk introduced clauses which provided for an elected parliament on the basis of universal male suffrage as well as press freedom.

[20] Meanwhile, dissenting legislators from the national assembly attacked the government led by prime minister Penn Nouth over its failure to resolve deepening financial and corruption problems plaguing the country.

[43][41] In April 1955, before leaving for a summit with Asian and African states in Bandung, Indonesia, Sihanouk announced the formation of his own political party, the Popular Socialist Community (Sangkum), and expressed interest in participating in the general elections slated to be held in September 1955.

[59] The following January, when he was in the Philippines on a state visit, Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) operatives attempted to sway him into placing Cambodia under Southeast Asia Treaty Organization (SEATO) protection.

[60] US Secretary of State John Foster Dulles went to great efforts to convince Sihanouk, however he refused because "I considered SEATO an aggressive military alliance directed against neighbors whose ideology I did not share but with whom Cambodia had no quarrel".

At the debate, held at the Royal Palace, Sihanouk spoke in a belligerent tone, challenging the Democrat leaders to present evidence of malfeasance in his government and inviting them to join the Sangkum.

Non Suon's criticisms gave Sihanouk the impetus to arrest Pracheachon leaders, and, according to him, he had discovered plans by their party to monitor local political developments on behalf of foreign powers.

[102] As soon as government troops managed to quell the fighting,[103] Sihanouk began to suspect that three left-wing Sangkum legislators – Khieu Samphan, Hou Yuon and Hu Nim – had incited the rebellion.

[112] Kenton Clymer notes that this statement "cannot reasonably be construed to mean that Sihanouk approved of the intensive, ongoing B-52 bombing raids" the US launched in eastern Cambodia beginning in March 1969 as part of Operation Menu, adding: "In any event, no one asked him. ...

In June 1969, he extended diplomatic recognition to the Provisional Revolutionary Government of the Republic of South Vietnam (PRGSV),[117] hoping that he could get the Viet Cong troops under its charge to leave Cambodia should they win the war.

Between October and December 1969, Sirik Matak instituted several policy changes that ran contrary to Sihanouk's wishes, such as allowing private banks to re-open in the country and devaluing the riel.

On 9 January 1979, Sihanouk flew from Beijing to New York to attend the UN Security Council, where he simultaneously condemned the Khmer Rouge for orchestrating the Cambodian genocide as well as the Vietnamese occupation of Cambodia.

[163] After several rounds of negotiations mediated by Deng and Singapore's prime minister Lee Kuan Yew,[164] FUNCINPEC, KPNLF, and the Khmer Rouge agreed to form the Coalition Government of Democratic Kampuchea (CGDK) in June 1982.

[170] The following July, the then-foreign minister of Indonesia, Ali Alatas, brokered the first round of meetings between the four warring Cambodian factions consisting of FUNCINPEC, Khmer Rouge, KPNLF, and the PRK government over the future of Cambodia.

[171] In July 1989, Ali Alatas joined French foreign minister Roland Dumas in opening the Paris Peace Conference, where discussions took place regarding plans for Vietnamese troop withdrawal and power-sharing arrangements in a hypothetical future Cambodian government.

Together with Hun Sen, Sihanouk rode in an open top limousine from Pochentong Airport all the way to the royal palace, greeting city residents who lined the streets to welcome his return.

As both Norodom Sirivudh[201] and Julio Jeldres, his younger half-brother and official biographer, respectively, saw it, this was a clear sign that the monarchy's ability to exert control over national affairs had diminished, at least vis-a-vis the prime ministers.

[206] Relations between the two co-prime ministers, Ranariddh and Hun Sen, deteriorated from March 1996,[207] when the former accused the CPP of repeatedly delaying the allocation process of low-level government posts to FUNCINPECs.

[217] In September 1998, Sihanouk meditated political talks in Siem Reap after the FUNCINPEC and the Sam Rainsy Party (SRP) staged protests against the CPP-led government for irregularities over the 1998 general elections.

[229] In February 2004, Sihanouk advocated and publicly backed same-sex marriage, at a time when the matter was relatively taboo and against Cambodia's backdrop as a conservative society and was praised for his support for the nation's LGBT demographic.

[230][231] Sihanouk also engaged in pursuing philanthropy with his establishment of the "Samdech Euv Team" whose primary purpose is to assist in humanitarian works and projects throughout the country, of which he would later dedicate much of himself during his retirement years.

Meanwhile, Hun Sen and Ranariddh had agreed to introduce a constitutional amendment that provided for an open voting system, requiring parliamentarians to select cabinet ministers and the president of the National Assembly by a show of hands.

[238] In August 2007, the Cambodian Action Committee for Justice and Equity, a US-based human rights NGO, called for Sihanouk's State immunity to be lifted, so as to allow him to testify in the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC).

[239] Sihanouk responded to the call by inviting the ECCC's United Nations chief public affairs officer, Peter Wickwire Foster, for a discussion session on his personal experience under the Khmer Rouge regime, which he said would be the only opportunity for the court to hear his testimony.

[242] On the day of the planned interview Cambodian television broke away from normal programming to broadcast an empty meeting room with staff appearing to be waiting for Foster to arrive.

[262] Credited as one of the 'great survivors' of contemporary Asian politics and described as a charismatic, albeit mercurial figure,[263][264][265][266] observers viewed Sihanouk's legacy as a complex one that is difficult to adequately quantify with precision with both achievements and failings in near equal measure.

[260][274] Moreover, this perspective is echoed by Jamie Metzl, a former Executive Vice President of the Asia Society, who commended Sihanouk's patriotism and remarked that "the totality of his life's work demonstrates an unflappable commitment" to Cambodia, notwithstanding the aforementioned reputational blight.

[275] To that end, he commanded the deep loyalty and respect of Cambodians who "throughout coups, wars, regime changes and famine - even a full-scale genocide", found in Sihanouk, whom they considered as a "God king", as "the one stable influence in their otherwise turbulent lives", which is also underscored by his status as the overarching unifying figure of the country.

[259][268][276] This was evident in opinion polling data released by the Cambodian Information Centre for the period between 1986 and 1997, which revealed he was the most popular leader in the country, with an approval rating ranging from a low of 56% to a high of 72% among respondents who were surveyed.

[294] After he was ousted as head of state in 1970, Sihanouk wrote several revolutionary-style songs[295] that praised the leaders of Communist countries, including "Hommage Khmer au Maréchal Kim Il Sung" and "Merci, Piste Ho Chi Minh".