Mobilization and state formation on a frontier of Vietnam

Defining mobilization as a powerful tactic and social process enables a critical analysis of state power as well as its spatial configurations and legitimation practices. Mobilization in the site of Đin Biên Ph first appeared during military confrontation (1952–54) and reappeared during land reform (1953–57) and collectivization (1959–60), all of which transformed agrarian community forms, political relations, and economic production – although not always as intended. Analyzing its use, meaning, and contingent effects on a frontier of an emerging Vietnam underlines how mobilization drew on and produced power to regulate relations of rule and production within an emerging nation-state. Drawing on historical sources and in dialog with literatures on social movements and comparative politics, this paper considers a series of mobilizations to represent distinct but inter-related stages in a process of statemaking.