Forsaken Causes: Liberal Democracy and Anticommunism in Cold War Laos - Hardcoverby Ryan Wolfson Ford (Author) In the wake of anticolonial struggles and amid the two world wars, twentieth century Southeast Asia churned with new political, cultural, and intellectual realities. Liberal democracies flourished briefly, only to be discarded for dictatorships and other authoritarian regimes as the disorder and inefficiencies inherent to democracy appeared unequal to postcolonial and Cold War challenges. Uniquely within the region, Laos