Abstract
This report aims at presenting the characteristics of rural leaders, especially those of hamlet chiefs, in the Mekong Delta region of Vietnam in the last days of the Thieu Government, based on a field survey from December 1974 to January 1975.
In the Delta region hamlets are larger in size, and houses are more scattered, than in North or Central Vietnam. This fact makes the function of village leaders somewhat weak and limited. In spite of this overall similarity, regional differences in leadership are clearly marked, reflecting the physiographical, historical, and religious background of each area. Major types are associated with traditional Vietnamese dominant areas, Khmer dominant areas, and areas where a specific religion is dominant, respectively.
Apart from the variation mentioned above, the war-time situation was found to be seriously affecting the character of formal leadership. Younger people in their twenties or thirties tended to be hamlet chief rather than village elders, and they had little support from their own generation owing to the peculiar age structure of each village, which lacks this generation as a result of the heavy draft. In less secure areas hamlet chiefs were usually appointed from among ex-soldiers etc. from outside, as few residents were willing to take this responsibility. In some places, these chiefs could barely perform their governmental assignments.
