Cambodian independence was not granted until the cease-fire agreement of Indo-China was signed up in Geneva. Anti-France resistance organizations were disarmed in July 1954. Subsequently, Cambodia became an independent state led by Sihanouk. He thought that he could possess the power of Cambodia more efficiently as a prime minister than as a king. In 1955, he gave up the throne in favor of his father, Norodom Suramarit. Afterwards, Norodom Sihanouk established a national political movement called Sangkum Reastr Niyum, "People's Socialist Community," and declared himself its "nonpolitical" leader. It was a shrewd move. Sihanouk was immensely popular as the "father of Cambodian independence."

Meanwhile, Sihanouk declared Cambodia "neutral", keeping a balancing act between the East and the West, often playing off the Thais against the Vietnamese. In 1963, in an endeavor to demonstrate Cambodian neutrality, he rejected American financial aid and two years later even severed diplomatic links with the USA in June 1969.

Sihanouk kept distance from both left-wing and right-wing politics inside the country as he did in international relationship. However, the domestic politics were increasingly difficult to control. His sympathy with the North Vietnamese and the distance with the USA inevitably alienated the right-wing elements domestically.