This monograph is an attempt to combine in a preliminary fashion observations on both the national and village level and to explore some of the connecting institutions. Although a small country, Laos is culturally and socially extremely complex, with marked divisions in urban Lao society and as well in its urban peasant counterpart and with cultural diversity in a wide variety of tribal groups and resident Asian communities. The purpose here is to examine some of the fundamental patterns of government structure on national and local levels and to correlate these with traditional family structure and with observations on Lao character.