A Particular Place? Laos and its Incorporation into the Development Mainstream

Bibliographic Data

ID4922233
AuthorsJonathan Riggs (0000-0002-6563-4640, Durham University, corresponding author)
Year2009
Volume41
Issue3
Pages703-721
Publication date2009-03-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueEnvironment and Planning A Economy and Space (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0308-518X • E-ISSN: 1472-3409
PublisherSAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1068/a40260
OpenAlexW2056299374
LanguageEN
Citations received22
References cited29

Laos is a poor country in the world's most economically vibrant region. I provide a historically embedded interpretation of Laos' contemporary economic geography through three lenses: dualism, spatiality, and scale. I propose that, while the patterns of change in the country are familiar, the meaning of those patterns is linked to a series of spatial associations, scalar disjunctures, historical contingencies, and cultural incongruities which are place based and country or region specific. I draw a distinction between national and transnational governmentalities on the one hand, and 'village governmentalities' on the other hand, offering these as alternative, but not mutually exclusive, ways of viewing and interpreting Laos' economic geography

Dualism · Economic geography · Epistemology · Geography · Mainstream · Political science · Sociology · Asian Geopolitics and Ethnography · Asian Studies and History · Law · Southeast Asian Sociopolitical Studies

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