Introduction

These four studies of Laos allow us to consider the case of a largely 'Tai' state, outside contenlporary Thailand and, like the Lanna states (that are the subject of the next section), also outside the heartlands of the ancient Sianlese state of Ayutthaya. Mayoury's account emphasises the conlplex historical contexts of changing social identities: Siamese overrule (18271893), French colonial rule (1893-1954), partial independence and United States donlination (1954-75) and subsequent attenlpts by a socialist reginle (1975-continuing) whose slogans are to encourage 'a multi-national Lao people' to beconle a 'single Lao nation', a paradoxical attelnpt that no previous rulers seenl to have deemed even necessary let alone possible.