Government and the Countryside

Political Accommodation and South Vietnam's Communal Groups

Allan E. Goodman

Expert InsightsPublished 1967

Discussion of the roles of "communalism" and "villagism" in the conduct of war and the future of government in South Vietnam. Rural communal village groups of religious and ethnic minorities (Cao Dai, Hoa Hao, Catholics, Khmers, and Montagnards) occupy almost 80 percent of South Vietnamese territory and constitute 50 percent of its rural population. War and politics of the past two decades have stimulated their will to survive as distinct cultural and political groups. Rather than necessarily being a divisive force, however, many have provided regional stability and have cooperated with the central government. The war has reinforced ties of interdependence between the GVN and the communal groups, but the government must more vigorously seek accommodation with the groups, since they are its only effective base in the countryside. Preserving their local autonomy and encouraging consolidation of their leadership will provide incentives for pacification stronger than external and temporary authority and reforms. Communal groups and villagism could thus function as institutions of unification and nationalization, also. (See also P-3707.)

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Goodman, Allan E., Government and the Countryside: Political Accommodation and South Vietnam's Communal Groups. Santa Monica, CA: RAND Corporation, 1968. https://www.rand.org/pubs/papers/P3924.html.
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