LAOS
Cards (9)
- Pre-colonial history of Laos:
- Tai people migrated from Southern China into present-day Laos, Thailand, and Burma
- Organized into principalities and later kingdoms
- Adopted Buddhism
- Fa Ngum, brought up in the royal court of Angkor, founded the Kingdom of Lan Xang with Luang Prabang as the capital
- Under French Indochina Union:
- Royal court in Luang Prabang, but France de facto exercised authority
- Rest of Laos reorganized into provinces ruled by the French government in Vientiane
- Senior posts reserved for French bureaucrats, mid-level positions held by Vietnamese civil servants
- Tin was the colony’s most important product
- During World War II:
- French government of Marshall Petain in Vichy and Tokyo recognized French sovereignty over Indochina
- In March 1945, French personnel were interned, and Japanese Imperial Army took control over Laos
- Lao Issara declared the sovereign “Lao Nation” (Pathet Lao) in October 1945
- Vietnam War impact on Laos:
- Policy of neutrality
- Civil war against Pathet Lao
- Massive American bombing campaign to disrupt the Ho Chi Minh Trail
- Communists took power in Laos in 1975
- After the Communists took power in Laos in 1975:
- Leader of Lao People‘s Revolutionary Party, Souphanouvong, became the President
- New government imposed doctrinaire socialist policies, expropriated properties of ‘‘traitors’’, and controlled political and social discourse
- Challenges faced by Laos:
- Rising horizontal socioeconomic inequalities
- Weak administrative capacity and low quality of public services
- Need for privatization of state enterprises, legal reforms, and anti-corruption policies
- Constitutional history of Laos:
- Provisional constitution in 1945
- 1947 constitution
- 1991 constitution
- Democratic centralism and importance of Buddhism as a tradition protected by the state
- Laos gained full sovereignty in 1953
- King Souligna Vongsa negotiated good relations with the neighboring states, and within the kingdom gained a reputation for firm, jut rule