Table Of ContentLAOS: 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 
All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission 
of this publication may be made without written permission. 
No paragraph of this publication may be reproduced, copied or 
transmitted save with written permission or in accordance with 
the provisions of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, 
or under the terms of any licence permitting limited copying 
issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency, 33-4 Alfred Place, 
London WC1E 7DP. 
Any person who does any unauthorised act in relation to 
this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and 
civil claims for damages. 
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 
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