To co-opt or coerce? State capacity, regime strategy, and organized religion in Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam
| Date | 01 December 2021 |
| Author | Adam E Howe |
| Published date | 01 December 2021 |
| DOI | 10.1177/20578911211046063 |
| Subject Matter | Research articles |
To co-opt or coerce? State
capacity, regime strategy,
and organized religion in
Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam
Adam E Howe
Fairfield University, USA
Abstract
This article explores the dynamic relationship between states, authoritarian regimes, and orga-
nized religion in the ostensibly Marxist-Leninist states of Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam. Despite
espousing an initial shared ideological commitment toward curbing the influence of domestic reli-
gion, actual regime policies toward these groups have varied considerably over time. I argue that
the explanation for this difference can be found in unpacking the strength of each regime’s state
apparatus. This article introduces a new typological theory for understanding how state capacity
has shaped the divergent strategies Cambodian, Lao and Vietnamese regimes have employed to
manage organized religion during the post-Vietnam War era (1975 to present). In brief, I argue
that regime elites in Vietnam have successfully co-opted organized religion through the state bur-
eaucracy. Conversely, Marxist-inspired regimes in Cambodia and Laos have oscillated between
policies of coercive violence and strategic accommodation to dilute the power of domestic reli-
gious groups.
Keywords
authoritarianism, Buddhism, Cambodia, Catholicism, Laos, religion, state capacity, Vietnam
Introduction
Organized religion in the region once popularly known as French Indochina has weathered signif-
icant threats to its survival. The second half of the 20th century ushered in a bloody civil war in Laos
(1959–1975), a genocide in Cambodia (1975–1979), and two major wars in Vietnam against
Corresponding author:
Adam E Howe, Department of Politics, Fairfield University, 1073 N. Benson Road, Fairfield, CT 06824, USA.
Email: ahowe1@fairfield.edu
Research article
Asian Journal of Comparative Politics
2021, Vol. 6(4) 389–404
© The Author(s) 2021
Article reuse guidelines:
sagepub.com/journals-permissions
DOI: 10.1177/20578911211046063
journals.sagepub.com/home/acp
French and American occupation (1946–1975). While these conflicts unleashed unimaginable
horrors against their respective civilian populations, they also permanently altered the nature of
state–society relations. The authoritarian regimes that came to dominate post-war Vietnam, Laos,
and Cambodia were vexed by religion as an alternative locus of social power. In Laos and
Cambodia, for example, Theravada Buddhism structured relations between the monarch and
society, but also had a more practical function. Buddhist monks traditionally educated a large per-
centage of the population, particularly at the village level. Simultaneously, various animist and syn-
cretic religions traditionally posed a threat to Buddhist cultural hegemony well before 1975. This
historical legacy was not only ideologically out of sync with the Marxist-Leninist tradition but
posed a potential threat to modern political and social reorganization in Laos, Cambodia, and
Vietnam.
4
The year 1975 marks a critical juncture in understanding the overall trajectory of the regime–reli-
gion nexus in each of these countries. For the first time, Marxist-inspired regimes seized political
power in Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam and instituted new policies aimed at neutralizing perceived
threats to their authority posed by organized religion. Formally, this represented an ideological
break from the past, as monarchical patronage of Buddhism in Laos and Cambodia was the
norm, while in South Vietnam (RVN), successive US-backed regimes worked to counter both
Buddhist and communist resistance.
Critically, different wartime experiences contributed to the relative strengths and weaknesses of
each state, and thus the coercive and bureaucratic tools post-1975 regimes could use against orga-
nized religion. In Vietnam, the Viet Minh and CPV (Communist Party of Vietnam) gradually
enhanced their state power through military campaigns against French, American, and South
Vietnamese armed forces. Employing tax collection programs and land seizures as early as the
1940s, they were able to extract financial resources from ordinary citizens, thus creating the
early foundations for a strong post-war state (Beresford, 1988: 28–29). In Laos and Cambodia,
the Pathet Lao and Khmer Rouge insurgencies expanded as a result of conflict spillover from neigh-
boring Vietnam. American-led bombing raids along the Ho Chi Minh trail served as an important
recruitment tool for Marxist insurgents and further weakened the appeal of domestic political elites
(Chandler, 1991: 225–226). The major difference, which is critical for understanding contrasting
approaches to organized religion in each country, is that neither the Pathet Lao or Khmer Rouge
engaged in state-building activities to the same extent that the pre-1975 Viet Minh and CPV had
in Vietnam. Additionally, the legacy of weak states and even weaker regimes in Laos and
Cambodia meant that the rebels were able to seize the capitals of Vientiane and Phnom Penh
with minimal resistance. Paradoxically, this put both groups at a disadvantage when it came to gov-
erning because they were tasked with extensive state-building in rural areas.
Since regimes in the region inherited quite different states, prospects for containing the influence
of organized religion also varied considerably. Furthermore, the divergent pathways taken by each
regime since 1975—the year when communist regimes in all three countries officially took power
—is not coincidental. While each was ideologically committed to diminishing the organizational
capacity and symbolic appeal of religion in their states, differences in relative state capacity endow-
ment provide the most compelling reason for why the weak bureaucratic/administrative states of
Cambodia and Laos oscillated between co-optation and coercion, while Vietnam was able to
co-opt and supervise religious hierarchy through a Chinese CCP model of state-regulated churches
(Reny, 2018).
The article proceeds as follows. First, I will provide an overview of major conceptual
and theoretical approaches essential to understanding the nature of modern states, non-
390 Asian Journal of Comparative Politics 6(4)
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