Laos

Agriculture is the chief economy in Laos, but farming methods are old-fashioned. Buffalo, such as the ones shown here, are essential on farms that have no machinery. Rice is the main crop along the river valleys, while coffee and tobacco are also cultivated. In isolated mountain regions illegal crops of opium are grown for export.

Landlocked country in southeast Asia, bounded north by China, east by Vietnam, south by Cambodia, west by Thailand, and northwest by Myanmar.

Government

Laos is a one-party socialist republic. The communist party (Lao People's Revolutionary Party, the LPRP), which heads the broader Lao Front for National Reconstruction, is the controlling force and is dominated by its political bureau. Senior members of the LPRP monopolize key state positions. The 1991 constitution, as amended, provides for a 115-member national assembly, popularly elected for a five-year term. It meets in ordinary session twice a year, and elects as executive head of state, a president, who serves a similar term. The president promulgates laws and, with the assembly's approval, appoints or dismisses the prime minister and members of the cabinet.

History

The original Southeast Asian tribal groups saw a migration from the 4th–5th centuries of people from China. Laos came under Indian influence and adopted Buddhism during the 7th–11th centuries. As part of the Khmer empire from the 11th–13th centuries, it experienced much artistic and architectural activity. From the 12th century, the country was invaded by the Lao from Thailand, who established small independent kingdoms and became Buddhists. Laos became an independent kingdom in the 14th century and was first visited by Europeans in the 17th century. It was invaded by and controlled by Siam from the 18th century before becoming a French protectorate 1893–1945 as part of French Indochina. After a brief period of Japanese occupation, France re-established control in 1946 despite opposition from the Chinese-backed Lao Issara (Free Laos) nationalist movement which had declared independence in 1945. The country became semi-autonomous in 1950, when, under the constitutional monarchy of the king of Louangphrabang, it became an associated state of the French Union.

Independence and civil war

In 1954, after the Geneva Agreements, Laos gained full independence. Civil war broke out between two factions of former Lao Issara supporters: a moderate, royalist-neutralist group led by Prince Souvanna Phouma, which had supported the 1950 French compromise and was the recognized government for most of the country; and a more extreme communist resistance group, the Pathet Lao (‘land of the Lao’), led by ex-Prince Souphanouvong (the half-brother of Prince Souvanna) and supported by China and the Vietminh, which controlled much of northern Laos.

A coalition government was established after the 1957 Vientiane Agreement. This soon collapsed, and in 1960 a third, right-wing force emerged when Gen Phoumi Nosavan, backed by the royal army, overthrew Souvanna Phouma and set up a pro-Western government headed by Prince Boun Gum. A new Geneva Agreement in 1962 established a tripartite (right–left–neutral) government under the leadership of Prince Souvanna Phouma. Fighting continued, however, between the Soviet Union– and North Vietnamese–backed Pathet Lao and the US-backed neutralists and right wing. There was massive aerial bombardment by the US Air Force until the 1973 Vientiane Agreement established a ceasefire line dividing the country northwest–southeast, giving the communists two-thirds of the country, but giving the Souvanna Phouma government two-thirds of the population. All foreign forces (North Vietnamese, Thai, and US) were to be withdrawn, and both sides received equal representation in Souvanna Phouma's provisional government in 1974.

Communist republic

In 1975 the communist Pathet Lao overthrew the royalist government to seize power and renamed itself the Revolutionary People's Party of Laos (PPPL). King Savang Vatthana (1908–1980), who had succeeded in 1959, abdicated, and Laos became a People's Democratic Republic under the presidency of Prince Souphanouvong. Prince Souvanna Phouma remained as an ‘adviser’ to the government, but the real controlling force was now the prime minister and communist party leader, Kaysone Phomvihane.

The new administration, which inherited a poor, war-ravaged economy, attempted to reorganize the country along socialist lines, nationalizing businesses and industries and collectivizing agriculture. Faced with a food shortage and the flight of more than 250,000 refugees to Thailand, it modified its approach in 1979, introducing production incentives and allowing greater scope for the private sector. Further ‘liberalization’ followed from 1985 under the prompting of the Soviet Union's reform-communist leader Mikhail Gorbachev, with the adoption of a new profit-related ‘socialist business accounting system’. Phoumi Vongvichit became acting president in 1986 owing to Souphanouvong's ailing health. In 1989, multiparty elections were held for the first time since the communists came to power in 1975, with the communists retaining political control.

Under presidents Kaysone Phomvihane 1991–92, Nouhak Phoumsavan 1992–97, and Khamtay Siphandon 1997–2006, the pace of reform accelerated. Agricultural cooperatives replaced privately owned farms, a constitution was adopted in 1991, and there was strong economic growth (averaging 6% per annum 1988–2004), with foreign investment, principally from Thailand, beginning to increase. There was no political liberalization, however, and by 2001 high inflation was affecting economic growth. In 2006, Lt-Gen Choummali Saygnasone became president.

Foreign relations

After 1975 Laos remained closely tied to the Soviet Union, until the latter's demise in 1991, and to neighbouring communist Vietnam. During the 1970s and 1980s relations with neighbouring Thailand were strained, with Laos accusing it of having ‘expansionist’ designs, but from the 1980s, due to economic factors, the situation improved. In 1991 a security and cooperation agreement was signed with Thailand and agreement reached on the phased repatriation of more than 60,000 Laotian refugees. A ‘friendship bridge’, connecting Vientiane to the northern Thai town of Nong Khai, was opened 1994, and a draft agreement signed with Thailand, Cambodia, and Vietnam on developing the Mekong River basin.

In 1989 party-to-party relations were established with China after a ten-year break. The USA upgraded its diplomatic representation in Laos to ambassadorial level in 1991, and in 1995 lifted its 20-year aid embargo. In 1997, Laos joined the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN).