ABSTRACT
Westerners say that modern nationalism organized in the French Revolution, but the Vietnamese were nationalists before Christ walked on earth. The great geopolitical fact for Vietnam is the presence of China—large, powerful, and arrogant—on its northern border. Article 69 of the 1992 Constitution grants Vietnamese citizens freedom of speech, press, and assembly "in accordance with the law". The Vietnamese Communists are contemptuous of Western-style democracy on both ideological and cultural grounds. Laos is the forgotten land of Southeast Asia, the country least affected by the winds of economic and political change sweeping the region. With a population of only 4.7 million, Laos plays hardly any role in contemporary international politics. Laos's relations with the People's Republic of China have improved in recent years, because Laos needs any foreign aid it can get and perhaps also because the Laotian leaders would like some counterweight against Hanoi. In Laos, economic liberalization has inched forward but political reform has gone nowhere.
