The Integration Model

Abstract

On December 8, 2015, the National Assembly of the Lao People’s Democratic Republic (LPDR) (or Laos) approved a new Constitution, replacing the 2003 one. This chapter focuses on that constitutional replacement through amendment. It demonstrates that Laos introduces progressive constitutional change—notably, the redefinition of the position, structure, and functions of state institutions, including the imposition of term limits on executive power holders; strengthened commitment to a market economy; new commitments to human rights protection, judicial independence, and adversarial trials; and the creation of new institutions, namely, the local people’s councils, the state audit, and the election committee—to facilitate the improvement of the socialist constitutional system which in turn promotes the improvement of the material well-being of the living conditions of the Lao multi-ethnic people. The adherence to the integration of the Lao multi-ethnic people legitimatizes the process and substance of constitutional change in this country. The Lao story, therefore, indicates the integration model of socialist constitutional change.