ABSTRACT
While it is often asserted that globalization works to dissolve the nation state, in Laos the nation state has been strengthened by the trends associated with contemporary globalization.1 In part, this is the result of the general conditions of post-colonialism but, more importantly, the workings of globalization comprise many layers and cannot be reduced to one simple nexus of cause and effect. In some respects, the nation state is diluted by globalization, while in others it is strengthened. Thus, we need to ask how the nation state is being transformed by globalization, rather than weakened. While critics tend to answer such questions in the abstract, with appeals to universal claims of truth, this chapter offers a more modest contribution to the debate by describing some of the political and socioeconomic forces influencing the Lao nation state. These forces interact on many levels, contradicting one another at one level while forming an alliance at another; and they interact with various cultures, structures and groups within the country. The configuration of these forces, groups, structures and cultures is not homologous at any level (pace Bourdieu), but rather enormously complex.
