Laos is a poor country in the world's most economically vibrant region. I provide a historically embedded interpretation of Laos' contemporary economic geography through three lenses: dualism, spatiality, and scale. I propose that, while the patterns of change in the country are familiar, the meaning of those patterns is linked to a series of spatial associations, scalar disjunctures, historical contingencies, and cultural incongruities which are place based and country or region specific. I draw a distinction between national and transnational governmentalities on the one hand, and ‘village governmentalities' on the other hand, offering these as alternative, but not mutually exclusive, ways of viewing and interpreting Laos' economic geography.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
ADB, 2001a, “Participatory poverty assessment: Lao People's Democratic Republic”, Asian Development Bank, Manila
2.
ADB, 2001b, “Poverty in Vientiane: A participatory poverty assessment (final report)”, January, Vientiane Urban Infrastructure and Services, Asian Development Bank and the Vientiane Urban Development and Administration Authority
3.
ADB, 2005, “Regional study on rural, urban and sub-regional linkages in the Greater Mekong Sub-region (Viet Nam, Lao PDR, Cambodia): A holistic approach to development and poverty reduction, RETA 6121”, final report, December, Asian Development Bank, Manila
BairdIShoemakerB, 2007, “Unsettling experiences: Internal resettlement and international aid agencies in Laos”Development and Change38865–888
6.
ChamberlainJPhomsombathP, 2002, “Poverty alleviation for all: Potentials and options for peoples in the uplands”, unpublished document, Swedish International Development Agency, Vientiane
7.
ChiengthongJ, 2003, “The politics of ethnicity, indigenous culture and knowledge in Thailand, Vietnam and Lao PDR”, in Social Challenges for the Mekong Region Eds Kaosa-ArdMDoreJ (Chiang Mai University, Thailand) pp 147–172
DucourtieuxOLaffortJ-RSacklokhamS, 2005, “Land policy and farming practices in Laos”Development and Change36499–526
10.
EvansG, 1990Lao Peasants under Socialism (Yale University Press, New Haven, CT)
11.
EvansG, 1995Lao Peasants under Socialism and Post-socialism (Silkworm Books, Chiang Mai, Thailand)
12.
EvansG, 1998The Politics of Ritual and Remembrance: Laos since 1975 (Silkworm Books, Chiang Mai, Thailand)
13.
EvrardOGoudineauY, 2004, “Planned resettlement, unexpected migrations and cultural trauma in Laos”, Development and Change35937–962
14.
FergusonJ, 2005, “Seeing like an oil company: Space, security, and global capital in neoliberal Africa”American Anthropologist107377–382
15.
FergusonJGuptaA, 2002, “Spatializing states: Towards an ethnography of neoliberal governmentality”American Ethnologist29981–1002
16.
FriedmanT, 2005The World is Flat: A Brief History of the Globalized World in the 21st Century (Allen Lane, London)
17.
GayBSisomphouKHùngHào N, 2003, “Les sources contemporaines du Laos: 1976–2003” [Contemporary sources of research on Laos: 1976–2003] Collection les sources pour la connaissance du Laos No. 1, Association Culturelle des Routes de la Soie [Singapore], Institut de Recherches sur la Culture (Laos), and Comité National des Sciences (Laos), http://laos.efeo.fr/IMG/pdf/efeo_Gay_Sources-contemporaines-Laos.pdf
18.
GoL, 1989, “Report on the economic and social situation, development strategy, and assistance needs of Lao PDR”, report prepared for the Round Table Meeting of the New Programme of Action for the Least Developed Countries, Geneva (April), Government of Laos, Vientiane
19.
GoL, 1995, “Expenditure and consumption survey and social indicator survey (1992–1993)”Committee for Planning and Cooperation, National Statistical Centre, Government of Laos, Vientiane, Laos
20.
HirschP, 2001, “Globalisation, regionalisation and local voices: The Asian Development Bank and re-scaled politics of environment in the Mekong region”Singapore Journal of Tropical Geography22237–251
21.
HuijsmansR, 2007, “Approaches to Lao minors working in Thailand”Juth Pakai818–33
22.
IvarssonS, 1999, “Towards a new Laos: Lao Nhay and the campaign for a national ‘re-awakening’ in Laos 1941–45”, in Lao Culture and Society Ed. EvansG (Silkworm Books, Chiang Mai, Thailand) pp 61–78
23.
IvarssonSSvenssonTTønnessonS, 1995The Quest for Balance in a Changing Laos: A Political Analysis NIAS Reports No. 25 (NIAS Books, Copenhagen)
24.
JerndalRRiggJ, 1998, “Making space in Laos: Constructing a national identity in a forgotten country”Political Geography17809–831
25.
JonasA, 2006, “Pro scale: Further reflections on the ‘scale debate’ in human geography”Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers, New Series31399–406
LiT, 1999, “Compromising power: Development, culture, and rule in Indonesia”Cultural Anthropology14295–322
29.
LockhartB, 2006, “Pravatsat Lao: Constructing a national history”South East Asia Research14361–386
30.
McKayD, 2003, “Cultivating new local futures: Remittance economies and land-use patterns in Ifugao, Philippines”Journal of Southeast Asian Studies34285–306
31.
McKayD, 2005, “Reading remittance landscapes: Female migration and agricultural transition in the Philippines”Geografisk Tidsskrift10589–99
32.
MansfieldB, 2005, “Beyond rescaling: Reintegrating the ‘national’ as a dimension of scalar relations”Progress in Human Geography29458–473
33.
MarstonSJonesJIIIWoodwardK, 2005, “Human geography without scale”Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers, New Series30416–432
34.
OehlersA, 2006, “A critique of ADB policies towards the Greater Mekong Sub-region”Journal of Contemporary Asia36464–478
35.
PholsenaV, 2002, “Nation/representation: Ethnic classification and mapping nationhood in contemporary Laos”Asian Ethnicity3175–197
36.
PholsenaV, 2006Post-war Laos: The Politics of Culture, History, and Identity (Cornell University Press, Ithaca, NY)
37.
PholsenaVBanomyongR, 2006Laos: From Buffer State to Crossroads? (Mekong Press, Chiang Mai, Thailand)
38.
PholsenaVLockhartB, 2006, “Introduction to special issue on the politics of history and national identity in contemporary Laos”South East Asia Research14333–338
39.
RamboA, 1995, “Defining highland development challenges in Vietnam: Some themes and issues emerging from the conference”, in The Challenges of Highland Development in Vietnam Eds RamboAReedRLe TrongCucDiGregorioM (East–West Center Program on Environment, Hawaii) pp xi–xxvii
40.
ReedDRosaH, no date [1999] “Economic reforms, globalization, poverty and the environment”, Poverty and Environmental Initiative 5, United Nations, New York
41.
RiggJ, 2005Living with Transition in Laos: Market Integration in Southeast Asia (Routledge-Curzon, London)
42.
RiggJ, 2007, “Moving lives: Migration and livelihoods in the Lao PDR”Population, Space and Place13163–178
StandingG, 2000, “Brave new worlds? A critique of Stiglitz's World Bank rethink”Development and Change31737–763
45.
Stuart-FoxM, 1993, “On the writing of Lao history: Continuities and discontinuities”Journal of Southeast Asian Studies24106–121
46.
Stuart-FoxM, 1996Buddhist Kingdom, Marxist State: The Making of Modern Laos (White Lotus, Bangkok)
47.
Stuart-FoxM, 2006, “The challenge for Lao historiography”South East Asia Research14339–359
48.
ThapaG, 1998, “Issues in the conservation and management of forests in Laos: The case of Sangthong District”Singapore Journal of Tropical Geography1971–91
49.
TheeravitKSemyaemA, 2002Thai–Lao Relations in Laotian Perspective (Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok)
ThongyouMAyuwatD, 2005, “Social network of Laotian migrant workers in Thailand”, Southeast Asia Research Center Working Paper series No. 80, City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, http://www.cityu.edu.hk/searc/WP80_05_Thongyou_Ayuwat.pdf
52.
UNDP, 1990, “Development cooperation, Lao People's Democratic Republic: 1989 report”, United Nations Development Programme, Vientiane
53.
UNDP, 1996, “Socio-economic profile of Sayaboury province”, Lao PDR Province Profile Series No. 2 (November), United Nations Development Programme, Vientiane
VandergeestP, 2003, “Land to some tillers: Development-induced displacement in Laos”International Social Science Journal17547–56
56.
WinichakulT, 2005, “Trying to locate Southeast Asia from its navel: Where is Southeast Asian studies in Thailand”, in Locating Southeast Asia: Geographies of Knowledge and Politics of Space Eds KratoskaPRabenRNordholtH (Singapore University Press, Singapore) pp 113–132
57.
World Bank, 1999, “Lao People's Democratic Republic: Proposed agricultural development project”, World Bank identification mission, aide memoire, September/October, World Bank, Vientiane
