Laos: Beyond the Revolution

361 Pages·1991·32.881 MB·English

by  Joseph J. Zasloff, Leonard Unger (eds.)

LAOS: BEYOND THE REVOLUTION
Also by Joseph J. Zasloff
APPRENTICE REVOLUTIONARIES: The Communist Movement in Laos,
1930-1985 (with MacAlister Brown)
COMMUNISM IN INDOCHINA: New Perspectives (editor with
MacAlister Brown)
COMMUNIST INDOCHINA AND US FOREIGN POLICY (with
MacAlister Brown)
INDOCHINA IN CONFLICT (editor with Allan Goodman)
NORTH VIETNAM AND THE PATHET LAO (with Paul Langer)
POSWAR INDOCHINA: Old Enemies and New Allies (editor)
THE PATHET LAO: Leadership and Organization
Laos: Beyond the
Revolution
Edited by
Joseph J. Zasloff
Professor of Political Science
University of Pittsburgh
and
Leonard Unger
Professor, School of Advanced International Studies
Johns Hopkins University
M
MACMILLAN
ISBN 978-1-349-11216-6 ISBN 978-1-349-11214-2 (eBook)
DOI10.1007/978-1-349-11214-2
©Joseph J. Zasloff and Leonard Unger 1991
Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 1991 978-0-333-51330-9
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First published 1991
Published by
MACMILLAN ACADEMIC AND PROFESSIONAL LTD
Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 2XS
and London
Companies and representatives
throughout the world
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
Laos: beyond the revolution.
1. Laos. Politics
I. Zasloff, Joseph J., 1925- II. Unger, Leonard, 1917-
320.9594
Contents
Acknowledgements viii
Notes on the Contributors IX
Preface xiii
PART I POLITICS
1 Political Constraints on Development in Laos
Joseph J. Zasloff 3
2 Communists in Coalition Government: Lessons from
Laos
MacA/ister Brown 41
PART II ECONOMICS
3 The Economy of Laos: an Overview
United Nations Development Program 67
4 Planning Problems in Peripheral Socialism: The Case
of Laos
Grant Evans 84
PART III SOCIETY
5 After the Revolution: Ethnic Minorities and the
New Lao State
Wendy Batson 133
6 Social Development in the Lao People's
Democratic Republic: Problems and Prospects
Ng Shui Meng 159
v
VI Contents
PART IV EXTERNAL RELATIONS
7 Foreign Policy of the Lao People's Democratic
Republic
Martin Stuart-Fox 187
8 Relations between Laos and Thailand, 1988
Ambassador Saly Khamsy, Lao People's Democratic
Republic 209
Comment on the LPDR Statement
Counsellor Pradap Pibulsonggram, Embassy of Thailand 213
9 Laotian Refugees in Thailand:
The Thai and US Response, 1975 to 1988
W. Courtland Robinson 215
PARTY US POLICY TOWARDS LAOS IN
HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE
10 Lao Nationalism and American Policy, 1954-9
Arthur J. Dammen 243
11 The United States and Laos, 1962-5
Leonard Unger 275
12 The Chinese Road in Northwest Laos, 1961-73:
An American Perspective
G. McMurtrie Godley and finny St Goar 285
13 US-Lao Relations, 1988
David Floyd Lambertson 315
Appendices
A. State Department Report to Congress Regarding Narcotics.
Special Report: Laos 321
B. State Department Report to Congress on Narcotics:
Laos, 1988. Prepared by Bureau of 1nternational Narcotics
Matters, Department of State 323
C. Human Rights in Laos, 1988: Report to US Congress
prepared by Department of State 328
D. Amnesty 1nternational Report, 1988: Laos 336
Index 338
VI
List of Maps
1 Lao People's Democratic Republic 66
2 Laos and its neighbours 132
3 The Chinese Road in Northwest Laos, 1961-73 286
vii
Acknowledgements
The editors of this volume, who also served as co-chairmen of the
conference from which it emerged, would like to express gratitude to
a number of people. We thank Hans Binnendijk, former director of
the Center for the Study of Foreign Affairs, and Joseph V. Montville,
director of research of the Center at the time the conference was
planned, for their support in convening the conference. We are
specially grateful to Linda Lum, professional staff member of the
Center, for her valuable assistance. The National Defense University
generously provided funds to commission papers by the academic
specialists represented in the volume. We wish to thank Ambassador
G. McMurtrie Godley for his support to the conference. Finally, we
express our thanks to all of the authors for their thoughtful and
articulate contributions to the Conference and the book.
JOSEPH J. ZASLOFF
LEONARD UNGER
Vlll
Notes on the Contributors
Wendy Batson has been a freelance consultant since 1988. Her
previous positions include consultant to the United Nations Develop
ment Program in Vientiane, Lao PDR, and Co-director of the
Indochina Project, Washington, DC (1986-7); consultant to the
UNDP in Vientiane (1985); Co-Director of the American Friends
Service Committee programs in Vientiane (1981-4); and research,
writing, and administrative responsibilities with the United Farm
Workers Union of America (AFL-CIO) in California (1973-7). Ms
Batson holds a BA from the University of California/Berkeley.
MacAiister Brown has been Professor with the Department of
Political Science, Williams College, since 1956. He has taught courses
on the American presidency and Congress, American foreign policy,
the US political economy, American political thought, international
relations, diplomacy and negotiation, international law and organisa
tion, and comparative politics; and has held various administrative
positions with Williams. Dr Brown has been Visiting Fulbright
Lecturer in International Relations at Chulalongkorn University in
Bangkok, Thailand (1980-1, 1984-5); and Fulbright Lecturer in
Public Administration at Tribhuwan University in Nepal. He has
been a Congressional Fellow of the American Political Science
Association (1962-3), and has taught at Dartmouth College (1953-5).
He has written several books and dozens of articles. His writings
include Apprentice Revolutionaries: The Communist Movement in
Laos, I930-I985 (co-author with Joseph J. Zasloff, 1986); Indochina
and Problems of Security and Stability in Southeast Asia (co-editor
with Khien Theeravit, 1981); Communist Indochina and U.S. Foreign
Policy: Postwar Realities (co-author with Joseph J. Zasloff, 1978);
and Communism in Indochina: New Perspectives (co-editor with
Joseph J. Zasloff, 1975). Dr Brown holds a PhD from Harvard
University and a BA from Wesleyan University, and has studied at
the University of Geneva.
Arthur John Dommen has been Economics Editor for the World
Agriculture Division, US Department of Agriculture, since 1987. His
ix