Assassination and Conflict Resolution in Laos

Abstract

Ten cases of political homicide in Laos were intensively studied, with particular attention t o the assassin, the victim, the homicidal event, the provocation, and the social context. Each assassination provided a resolution for a social dilemma which had proven refractory to other means of social problem solving. Certain demographic characteristics and psycho-social correlates of political homicide in Laos resemble those of other cultures.

Psychiatry in Indochina: Cultural Issues during the Period 1965-1975

“…This violence involved primarily young, relativery uneducated, but upwardly mobile men who had migrated from rural to urban areas (14)(15)(16). In areas with access to courts or prisons, assassination was a means of resolving problems that could not be solved bv other means (17)(18)(19).…”

“…Some men and women would gamble and lose more than they could afford. At times this led to marital disruption, chronic indebtedness, and poverty -and even to assassination of entire families when payments were not made (18). F'roblem.s of Children and Adol,e.scent.s.…”

“…Despite a variety of treatment techniques, most psychotic patients progressed to chronic stages. Moreover, chronically psychotic individuals risked early demise from a variety of causes including intercurrent infections, malnutrition, accidental death due to poor judgment, suicide and assassination when their continued existence comprised a risk to other villagers (5,14,(17)(18)(19).…”