University of Massachusetts Amherst ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst Anthropology Department Faculty Publication Anthropology Series August 1965 Conflict in Laos: the Politics of Neutralization Joel Halpern University of Massachusetts, Amherst, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.umass.edu/anthro_faculty_pubs Part of the Anthropology Commons Recommended Citation Halpern, Joel, "Conflict in Laos: the Politics of Neutralization" (1965). The Journal of Asian Studies. 18. https://scholarworks.umass.edu/anthro_faculty_pubs/18 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Anthropology at ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst. It has been accepted for inclusion in Anthropology Department Faculty Publication Series by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Conflict in Laos: the Politics of Neutralization. Review Author[s] : Joel M. Halpern The Journal ofAsian Studies, Vol. 24, No. 4 (Aug., 1965), 703-704. Stable URL: http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0021-9118%28196508%2924%3A4%3C703%3ACILTP0%3E2.O.CO%3B2-O The Journal of Asian Studies is currently published by Association for Asian Studies. Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use, available at http://www.jstor.org/about/terms.html. JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use provides, in part, that unless you have obtained prior permission, you may not download an entire issue of a journal or multiple copies of articles, and you may use content in the JSTOR archive only for your personal, non-commercial use. Please contact the publisher regarding any further use of this work. Publisher contact information may be obtained at http://www.j stor.org/journals/afas.html. Each copy of any part of a JSTOR transmission must contain the same copyright notice that appears on the screen or printed page of such transmission. JSTOR is an independent not-for-profit organization dedicated to creating and preserving a digital archive of scholarly journals. For more information regarding JSTOR, please contact [email protected]. http://www.jstor.org/ Mon Jul 11 13:49:01 2005 BOOK REVIEWS choosing certain versions of the Khun Borom is presented on Pathet Lao leaders and on per- legend in preference to others. The translator sonalities in the royal government. Especially also makes several attempts to qualify the as- complete is coverage of the series of coups, sertions of the text, as when he translates "He counter-coups and coalitions. Two final chap- was reported to have had two sons" (p. 75) ters analyze American policy and suggest alter- where the text reads "He had two sons" (1st natives, especially with regard to the possibility ed., p. 153). Transcription follows no consistent of a viable neutralization of Laos. A fairly ex- system: thus one has first "Visulraj" (p. 44) tensive bibliography, mostly of English-lan- and then "Visulrad" and "Visul-Raja" (P. 48). guage sources, and a number of useful appen- The translator further com~oundsthis confu- dices are included. Of particular interest is one sion by ignoring the standard forms for many presenting the 1964 action program of the Neo place names. Lao Hak Sat. Maha Sila's weak spots, the shortcomings of In addition to defining various western con- the translation, the typography (which is no cerns in the area the author consistently treats more than a photocopy of the JPRS mimeo- the situation from the perspective of North graph edition), and the relatively high price Vietnamese and Chinese Communist interests of this book should not dissuade the serious as well as in the light of recent conflicts within student of Southeast Asian history from ob- the Communist world. Concrete problems in- taining and using this volume. Maha Sila offers volved in the implementation of the two Ge- much new material of substantial value which, neva agreements and particularly those regard- when used intelligently, can assist in filling ing their enforcement are spelled out at length. many of the enormous gaps in our knowledge The enormous amount of specific descrip- of Lao history. tive material of the kind on which the daily DAVIDK. WYATT press concentrates is sometimes overwhelming. School of Oriental and African Studies, In a chapter dealing with the coup led by then University of London Captain Kong Le, for example, in addition to useful information on the Captain's social background and education the author gives Conflict in Laos: the Politics of Neutralization. details of local PTT services, which is dis- By ARTHURJ. DOMMEN.New York: Fred- tracting. erick A. Praeger, 1964. xiv, 338. Appen- Information on economic and social factors dices, Bibliography, Index. $5.95. in Laos might have been more pertinent in For the serious scholar there are few books evaluating political developments. For example, dealing with Laos, especially with respect to the ideological appeal of the Pathet Lao to vil- the post-war political situation. Conflict in lagers and minority groups is emphasized, and Laos: The Politics of Neutralization is. there- the reader is told about communist methods of organization. In a one-page summary of The fore,. particularly- welcome. Arthur J. Dommen, a journalist, was for- People (p. 3) in the introductory unit, how- merly Bureau Manager for United Press Inter- ever, Mr. Dommen describes the "Kha." In national in Saigon and Hong Kong and most fact there is no such group, for the term itself is of the book reads like an extremelv detailed a general pejorative one used by the dominant news dispatch combined with background re- valley Lao to apply to widely diverse groups porting. Except for an introductory chapter the of indigenous upland peoples who share neither book is devoted mainly to the period since the common language nor culture. Similarly mis- 1954 Geneva Conference, beginning with a leading are statements about the stability of chapter on the post-war independence move- Lao villages and of strong family ties. Further, ment, the Lao Issara, and continuing to the certain population figures cited for ethnic subsequent splitting off of Prince Souphanou- groups appear to be exaggerated, while those vong and his associates to form the ~athetLao for urban communities of Vietnamese and Chi- under the auspices of the Viet Minh. The ori- nese are not reliable, judging by what limited gins of the Communist movement in Laos are information is already available from other pub treated in considerable detail. Biographical data lished sources. JOURNAL OF ASIAN STUDIES Granted that Mr. Dommen's emphasis is on integration of the non-Lao ethnic groups which political events, there is little attempt to evalu- comprise approximately half the population, to ate in any comprehensive fashion the great say nothing of the question of a self-sustaining body of facts given. It would seem important, economy. for example, to know how the author regards It is true that the tribal Meo have been the Lao elite as a group or series of groups and among the more effective fighters against the especially how he views their relations with the Pathet Lao, but it is not Americans who can Thai. This is a crucial point, since the Pathet achieve their integration into a Laotian state. Lao have apparently been successful on the vil- Therefore. in this fundamental sense the work lage level in many parts of Laos despite barely of dedicated Americans and programs of vil- concealed sponsorship by the Vietnamese Com- lage aid, although important for short-term munists, a point the author documents in humanitarian reasons, are basically irrelevant depth. When one bears in mind the traditional in terms of long-term political and social in- antipathy of the Lao to the Vietnamese this stitutional effects. Thus the author's refer- development is even more notable. ences to these efforts (as on p. 294) do not Perhaps of greater concern is the assessment come to grips with the real problems with of a small national state in the modern world. which Laos is faced. A degree of union with a In this sense Laos has much in common with neutral Thailand or a block of neutral South. new states in Africa which lack ethnic homo- east Asian states with a productive economy geneity, developed resources or effective in- based on the development of the Mekong River ternal administration. Laos differs, however, in might be long-term possibilities. At present that it shares borders with immensely more these possibilities seem remote but then, so powerful states. Also the ruling Lao have a does effective neutralization. literate tradition, a history of independent king- These qualifications aside, Mr. Dommen pre- doms and, most important, a broad range of sents a number of cogent comments on Ameri- cultural complexes shared with the neighbor- can policy as it pertains to the area, and his de- ing Thai. Despite a history of conflicting petty tailed description of post-war politics in Laos states only formal political factors divide the provides valuable background reading for a Northeast Thai from the Lao on the other comprehension of contemporary patterns of side of the Mekong. conflict in Southeast Asia. Considering the gradual withdrawal of the JOELM. HALPERN French and Enalish- in Southeast Asia and con- Brandeis University sequent return in part to a type of political con- flict predating European control, the present The Archaeology of Central Philippines: A ~mericanengagement in Indochina can be Study Chiefly of the Iron Age and Its Re- justifiably viewed as a temporary holding ac- lationships. By WILHELMG. SOLHEIM,II. tion. A somewhat surprising statement by the Monographs of the National Institute of author, in view of the data he himself presents, Science and Technology, No. 10. Manila: is: "The survival of a Loas that is neither a Bureau of Printing, 1964.