Laos

Laos A country dominated by Siamese (Thai) and also Vietnamese influence during the nineteenth century, it came under growing French influence in 1887, and was formally declared a French protectorate in 1893, as part of French Indochina. This was originally a small part of today's Laos, but the French gradually acquired adjoining territories from the Chinese and the Thai, so that it reached its present borders by 1917. The French did little to develop the country's poor soil or scarce mineral resources. Ruling formally through the monarchy ( King Sisavang Vong, r. 1904–59), established in the holy city of Luang Prabang, they did create an administrative unit and a legal code, and provided a basic education system for the country's social elite. While thus destroying many indigenous traditions, by highlighting the country's administrative and political distinctiveness the French did much to encourage the otherwise weakly developed consciousness of a national identity in a landlocked country marked by ethnic, linguistic, cultural, and geographical heterogeneity.

In 1940, with the rest of Indochina, its French authorities followed the Vichy government, and thus opened the country to Japanese military control. In 1941 the Japanese forced the cession of western Laos (acquired in 1907) back to Thai control, though this was reversed after World War II. France reclaimed the country in 1946 under King Sisavang Vong, and granted it autonomy within the French Union in 1949. However, France failed to re-establish full control. The French-supported monarchy was opposed by the nationalist movement of Prince Souvanna Phouma, which fought for a neutral Laos free of foreign interference. Apart from the colonial forces on the one hand, and the neutralist forces on the other, a third and final force were the Vietminh-backed Communist forces under Prince Souphanouvong, soon known as the Pathet Lao.

The royalist forces were fundamentally weakened by the withdrawal of French forces after the Geneva Agreements of 1954. Despite its formal independence from that time, the country continued to be bitterly divided and engaged in civil war between the royalist forces established in the east, Souvanna Phouma's neutralist forces in the the north, and the Pathet Lao in the west. The latter became closely involved in the Vietnam War, providing crucial supply lines to the Vietcong in return for military support from North Vietnam. This enabled the Pathet Lao to advance gradually against the neutralist forces, bringing most of the north under its control. Meanwhile, the country suffered heavily from its involvement in the Vietnam War, as US bombing campaigns destroyed virtually all the infrastructure that remained after decades of civil war. As the Vietnam War came to an end, a ceasefire was agreed in Laos in 1973. A coalition government under Souvanna Phouma emerged in 1974, in which the representatives of the former warring factions had theoretical parity, but which the Pathet Lao dominated in practice.

In 1975 this fragile balance between the different forces was shattered in the face of Vietnamese Communist strength following the fall of Saigon. King Savang Vattana (r. 1959–75) abdicated on 2 December 1975, and the coalition government resigned. The Communist-controlled People's Congress now proclaimed the Democratic People's Republic of Laos. The Communist government was under strong Vietnamese influence, despite initial efforts by the new Communist President, Souphanouvong, to create an independent role for his country. Vietnamese ‘protection’ forces had entered Laos to maintain order, while the poor and ravaged country was in desperate need of Vietnamese economic aid. Devoid of any industry, and lacking arable land, it remained heavily reliant on the import of food and manufactured goods, which led to the acquisition of a substantial foreign debt. Meanwhile, it benefited from the illegal cultivation of opium, which became one of its most important exports. In 1986 Souphanouvong was replaced by Phumi Vongvichit as President. He introduced a programme of careful political and economic liberalization, while continuing to insist on the Communist monopoly of power. For the 1989 parliamentary elections, one-third of the parliamentary seats were granted to the opposition parties, while foreign investment was welcomed. In 1991 Nouhak Phoumsavan became President and introduced a new Constitution, which once again confirmed the Communists' monopoly of power. Thereafter, all hopes of political reform were dashed through the 1990s, although Laos was able to overcome some of its international isolation by joining ASEAN in 1997. A moderate encouragement of private enterprise led to striking economic growth averaging about 7 per cent in the decade before the Asian econoimc crisis struck. Owing to its economic reliance on Thailand, it was particularly hit by the Thai crisis of 1997, and in the following two years the national currency, the Kip, lost nine-tenths of its value. The crisis accelerated the discrepancy between the economy of the capital, Viangchan (Vientiane), and the countryside which suffered from poor communications and infrastructure. Outside the capital, the average wage was less than $1 per day. In 2001, Khamtai Siphandon was re-elected to the Presidency, as the Lao People's Revolutionary (Communist) Party held 98 of 99 seats in the National Assembly