Cold War, state-building and social change: perspectives from two Southeast Asian borderlands

Abstract

ABSTRACT This article analyzes two key frontlines during the Cold War, border areas in the provinces of Savannakhet (central Laos) and Nakhon Phanom (northeastern Thailand), adjacent to the Lao-Vietnamese and Thai-Lao borders, respectively. We investigate the distinct transformative experiences of war and revolution on members of the same ethnic minority – the Phutai – in both locations. The wartime trajectories of these populations diverged significantly, partly because their territories experienced very different pre-Cold War histories. As a consequence, Phutai in Thailand moved through homogeneous ethnic space between Thailand and Laos. In contrast, the Phutai in Laos, hemmed in by political, topographic, and ethnic boundaries, contributed to the building of a communist proto-state. The Phutai were confronted by different communist projects, which also shaped their distinct revolutionary experiences: the Communist Party of Thailand (CPT) boosted ethnic minorities’ resistance against the Thai state’s nationalist ideology, while the Lao revolutionary movement facilitated ethnic minorities’ social mobility within the Pathet Lao apparatus. Whether through confrontation in Thailand or accommodation in Laos, Phutai in both locations played active roles in the multi-layered history of the region.