Book  

Vietnam: Navigating a Rapidly Changing Economy, Society, and Political Order

In the late 1980s, most of the world still associated Vietnam with resistance and war, hardship, refugees, and a mismanaged planned economy. During the 1990s, by contrast, major countries began to see Vietnam as both a potential partner and a strategically significant actor—particularly in the competition between the United States and an emerging China—and international investors began to see Vietnam as a land of opportunity.

Vietnam remains a Leninist party-state ruled by the Communist Party of Vietnam that has reconciled the supposedly irreconcilable: a one-party system and a market-based economy linked to global value chains. For the Party stability is crucial and, recently, increasing economic openness has been combined with growing political control and repression.

This book, undertaken by scholars from Vietnam, North America, and Europe, focuses on how the country’s governance shapes its politics, economy, social development, and relations with the outside world, as well as on the reforms required if Vietnam is to become a sustainable and modern high-income nation in the coming decades.

Despite the challenges, including systemic ones, the authors remain optimistic about Vietnam’s future, noting the evident vitality of a determined society.

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Rajawali Semester in Review
Collage of photos taken from various Rajawali events over the semester

Feature

Rajawali Semester in Review

This past semester, the Rajawali Foundation Institute for Asia engaged in conversations and research on topics ranging from Indonesia’s election to US-Taiwan relations with the goal of continuing to develop policy solutions to the region’s most pressing concerns.

Discussion with the Prime Minister of Vietnam

Video

Discussion with the Prime Minister of Vietnam

The Ash Center’s Vietnam Program hosted a discussion with Vietnamese Prime Minister Phạm Minh Chính on Vietnam’s economic development strategy.

More on this Location

Rajawali Semester in Review
Collage of photos taken from various Rajawali events over the semester

Feature

Rajawali Semester in Review

This past semester, the Rajawali Foundation Institute for Asia engaged in conversations and research on topics ranging from Indonesia’s election to US-Taiwan relations with the goal of continuing to develop policy solutions to the region’s most pressing concerns.