부산대학교 도서관

This paper attempts to consider the struggle for reign between local community and state in the Mekong Delta of southern Vietnam during the controlled economy era (1976–88). It examines the influence of the communist government's socialistic reforms on the local community composed of Khmer, Chinese and Vietnamese, and how the people dealt with these reforms. In an attempt to socialize the Mekong Delta region, the government transformed local orders to a new state order, one that prioritized public interest. Local orders were cooperative relations based on private interests of individual or family subsistence and were formed in various places in the local community. The subsistence crisis provoked by the socialistic reforms drove the people to depend on local orders. People hid paddy in their houses, selling it on the black market. Some living in disputed border areas left their village, seeking refuge in Buddhist pagodas, while others escaped to Cambodia. As more and more people, including local officials, participated in local orders, the weaker the state order became. Finally, the authorities were obliged to abolish the socialistic reforms as a result of the people's boycotting.