Laos: a case study in the cold war diplomacy of aid and intervention

Abstract

The cold war diplomacy of aid began in Laos when the Geneva settlements of 1954 finalized its independence and brought it into the mainstream of international politics. But aid diplomacy took a novel form in Laos. Though decreed by the Geneva settlements to be a neutral country, the peculiarities of Loatian internal politics prevented the type of Soviet-American rivalry of aid. Laos has been a unique non-aligned country that received hardly any Soviet aid to compete with US aid. The diplomacy of aid in Laos offered largely a study in the ultimate success of US military aid, one of the highest on per capita basis to any underdeveloped country. The Geneva settlements only tended to crystallize the trilinear division of political forces and attitudes in Laos. The neutralist elements were led by Prince Souvanna Phouma. The right wing groups were led by different people but for the sake of clarity could be identified with Prince Boun Oum. Their backbone lay in the right wing elements in the government army under General Phoumi Nosavan. The leftist Pathet Lao army contained strong Communist lements, though their leader Prince Souphannouvong disclaimed being A Communist. Along the permutations and combinations of these three political forces ran the course of the diplomacy of aid in Laos. The aftermath of the Geneva settlements of 1954 offered a happy start for American initiative in Laos.