Changing Worlds by
For the most of the twentieth century, the country of Vietnam has served as a symbol of the bipolar system of rival ideological blocs that characterized the Cold War. As the conflict over communism waned in the 1980s, Vietnam faced the tough task of remaking itself as nation in the eyes of itspeople and of the world. In Changing Worlds, David W.P. Elliot, a participant in the Aspen Institute's U.S.-Vietnam Dialogue who has spent the past forty years working closely with the people and government of Vietnam, chronicles the evolution of the Vietnamese state as we know it today.With the collapse of communist regimes in Europe, Vietnam witnessed the dissolution of the cornerstone of its policies toward the outside world. Fearing that a full commitment to deep integration in a globalizing world would lead to the collapse of their own current political system, the Vietnamesepolitical elite made slow, cautious steps to involvement with the larger international community. By the year 2000, however, Vietnam had "taken the plunge" and opted for greater participation in the global economic system, leading to its membership in the World Trade Organization in 2006.Elliott illustrates that the politicians who took a limited approach to international involvement ultimately had condemned Vietnam to a permanent state of underdevelopment. It is only at the turn of the 21st century when the Vietnamese state began to relax its policies toward the internationalcommunity that the nation began to experience a period of revitalization. Remarkably, these changes have happened without Vietnam losing its unique political identity as many had expected. It remains an authoritarian state, but offers far more breathing space to its citizens than in pre-reform era.Far from leading the nation to be absorbed into a Western-inspired development model, globalization has led to a complex domestic diversification and localization that has reinforced Vietnam's distinctive identity rather than obliterating it. The culmination of decades of research and culturalexchange, Changing Worlds documents the unique story of the birth of a nation amidst the challenges of the post-Cold War era.
Narrowing the Development Gap in ASEAN by
An important part of the vision of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) is to ensure that the benefits of development and economic integration are equitably shared by all member states and their citizens. ASEAN's work therefore aims to narrow the development gap between ASEAN member states (Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Brunei Darussalam, Myanmar, Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam) and between sub-regions within ASEAN. Written by a team of internationally recognised experts in development economics, this book communicates the latest findings on narrowing the development gap in a practical, policy-relevant way, in a format that can influence decision makers within ASEAN member states and international donors. There have been significant development achievements in many ASEAN countries over the last 20 years, but the ASEAN region continues to be characterised by significant development gaps, particularly in income. Gaps in development achievement are also seen at the regional and sub-national levels. This book offers a better understanding of development gaps, as they exist in 2012, and provides important context that can inform the strategic needs of decision makers in the ASEAN region. Due to improvements in conceptualising and measuring well-being, including through the use of multidimensional indicators, this book gives policy makers and scholars in development economics, development policy and Asian studies well-grounded insights into the nature of the development gaps within and between ASEAN countries as well as high-level policy advice on those interventions that can contribute to a narrowing of the development gap.
Navies of South-East Asia by
This book provides a comprehensive survey of the development and operations of the navies of South-East Asia since the end of World War II. The navies of South-East Asia have rarely been the subject of systematic attention but, as the maritime strategic balance within Asia becomes more complex and open to challenge through the rise of China, they will play increasingly significant roles. While most have had only limited strength in the past, the majority are acquiring new capabilities, notably submarines, which will profoundly alter their ability to influence events. This volume outlines the difficulties that each navy has faced in developing capability in competition, not only with local armies and air forces, but with other national requirements. The authors analyse the way in which each has been shaped by history and by changing maritime strategic concepts, particularly through developments such as the 1982 Law of the Sea Convention. Drawing upon this contextual information, the book goes on to examine how the navies are likely to develop in the future, what new challenges they will face and the nature of the roles they will play within a region of increasing global strategic significance. This book will be of much interest to students of naval policy, SE Asian politics, regional security, strategic studies and IR in general. 　 　
Regionalism in China-Vietnam Relations by
This book analyses collaboration in the Greater Mekong Subregion. It explores inter-state cooperation and the role of subnational units (provincial and local governments) and transnational actors (NGOs, firms) in building and maintaining the subregion. It also considers the relationships between actors on the three levels, their influences within the structures of decision-making in the GMS, their policy pronouncements and roles in the GMS. After exploring the historical background of cooperation in the GMS, the author discusses how far cooperation in the GMS has developed from the mere promotion of the national interest of individual states towards an institution as an independent actor able to influence relationships between its member states instead of only being influenced by them. Hensengerth scrutinises the nature of GMS cooperation and the character and capabilities of the institution of the GMS, exemplified by the bilateral relations between China and Vietnam. Here, the study will combine the analysis of subregionalism and institution-building in the GMS with an analysis of China-Vietnam relations by combining theoretical approaches to regional integration in the form of the regime approach with foreign policy analysis This book will appeal to academics within international relations, Southeast Asian regional and China or Vietnam country specialists.
On the Frontiers of Climate and Environmental Change by
This book is intended to fill a gap in climate-change literature by providing a comprehensive regional study and identifying the overall adaptation challenges in a real-life context. The way in which possible climate impacts interact with a range of other challenges in agriculture, forestry, disaster planning, health care, general economic development, and common livelihoods are presented, and it is argued that greater realism and broader vision are needed in order to address the climate challenge. For instance, unsuitable land- use changes in both coastal and highland regions may increase the vulnerability of rural people, many of whom are already living on the fringes. The author(s) also state(s) that, depending on context, it may be pertinent to address short-term and unsustainable resource use, irregularities in local land management, ineffective governance and social inequality, which are all likely to aggravate the impact of external climate and weather. Not least, it is imperative to integrate general environmental management with any climate-change adaptation effort.
China and Vietnam by
In their three thousand years of interaction, China and Vietnam have been through a full range of relationships. Twenty-five years ago they were one another's worst enemies; fifty years ago they were the closest of comrades. Five hundred years ago they each saw themselves as Confucian empires; fifteen hundred years ago Vietnam was a part of China. Throughout all these fluctuations the one constant has been that China is always the larger power, and Vietnam the smaller. China has rarely been able to dominate Vietnam, and yet the relationship is shaped by its asymmetry. The Sino-Vietnamese relationship provides the perfect ground for developing and exploring the effects of asymmetry on international relations. Womack develops his theory in conjunction with an original analysis of the interaction between China and Vietnam from the Bronze Age to the present.
Civil Society Networks in China and Vietnam by
This book brings a fresh, original approach to understand social action in China and Vietnam through the conceptual lens of informal environmental and health networks. It shows how citizens in non-democratic states actively create informal pathways for advocacy and the development of functioning civil societies.
Community-Driven Regulation by
In this text, Dara O'Rourke proposes a new policy model for pollution control, based on detailed case studies from rapidly industrializing Vietnam.
Dragons with Clay Feet? by
Dragons with Clay Feet? presents state-of-the-art research on the impact of ongoing and anticipated economic policy and institutional reforms on agricultural development and sustainable rural resource in two East-Asian transition (and developing) economies--China and Vietnam. The contributions to this volume focus on the regional and sectoral impact of transformational policies, farm household decision making under a changing economic and institutional environment, and potential trade-offs between agricultural growth and sustainable land management in the two countries. The analysis of household responses to economic policies and changing institution, and their implications for agricultural production and sustainable resource use in East-Asian transition economies, is a relatively new research field. This collection by a group of Chinese, Vietnamese, and international researchers reflect the rapid progress that is being made in this important research field.
Four Decades On by
In Four Decades On, historians, anthropologists, and literary critics examine the legacies of the Second Indochina War, or what most Americans call the Vietnam War, nearly forty years after the United States finally left Vietnam. They address matters such as the daunting tasks facing the Vietnamese at the war's end--including rebuilding a nation and consolidating a socialist revolution while fending off China and the Khmer Rouge--and "the Vietnam syndrome," the cynical, frustrated, and pessimistic sense that colored America's views of the rest of the world after its humiliating defeat in Vietnam. The contributors provide unexpected perspectives on Agent Orange, the POW/MIA controversies, the commercial trade relationship between the United States and Vietnam, and representations of the war and its aftermath produced by artists, particularly writers. They show how the war has continued to affect not only international relations but also the everyday lives of millions of people around the world. Most of the contributors take up matters in the United States, Vietnam, or both nations, while several utilize transnational analytic frameworks, recognizing that the war's legacies shape and are shaped by dynamics that transcend the two countries. Contributors. Alex Bloom, Diane Niblack Fox, H. Bruce Franklin, Walter Hixson, Heonik Kwon, Scott Laderman, Mariam B. Lam, Ngo Vinh Long, Edwin A. Martini, Viet Thanh Nguyen, Christina Schwenkel, Charles Waugh
Learning to Be Capitalists by
Given the overwhelming number of ineffective economic reform policies and programs, a central question for international development concerns how significant economic change happens. In the midst of this quandary, a puzzle has been growing quietly the last two decades. Vietnam has transitionedfrom a poor, centrally planned economy to one of the fastest growing, market economies in the world, despite ignoring conventional reform strategies. This book focuses on solving a specific puzzle of Vietnam's transition. Its fastest growing city, Ho Chi Minh City, has a real estate industry thatranks as the worst place in the world for private capital to invest . Nevertheless, entrepreneurs have emerged to form private firms within the first decade of transition. Where did these people come from? How could they conduct business in such an inhospitable economic environment? The book findsthat the transition to capitalism is neither the natural propensity of individuals nor the decision of an all-powerful state nor necessarily requires a long, evolutionary process.The major, rapid, and discontinuous economic change that occurred in Vietnam was fundamentally enabled by a socialreconstruction of cognitive paradigms.The new social cognition framework accounts for why some firms were more successful than others as well as why Vietnam's capitalism has surprising characteristics.
Saigon's Edge by
Much of the world's population inhabits the urban fringe, an area that is neither fully rural nor urban. Hóc Môn, a district that lies along a key transport corridor on the outskirts of Ho Chi Minh City, epitomizes one of those places. In Saigon's Edge, Erik Harms explores life in Hóc Môn, putting forth a revealing perspective on how rapid urbanization impacts the people who live at the intersection of rural and urban worlds. Unlike the idealized Vietnamese model of urban space, Hóc Môn is between worlds, neither outside nor inside but always uncomfortably both. With particular attention to everyday social realities, Harms demonstrates how living on the margin can be both alienating and empowering, as forces that exclude its denizens from power and privilege in the inner city are used to thwart the status quo on the rural edges. More than a local case study of urban change, Harms's work also opens a window on Vietnam's larger turn toward market socialism and the celebration of urbanization--transformations instructively linked to trends around the globe.
Scorched Earth: legacies of chemical warfare in Vietnam by
Weaving first-person accounts with original research, Vietnam War scholar Fred A. Wilcox examines long-term consequences for future generations, laying bare the ongoing monumental tragedy in Vietnam and calls for the US government to admit its role in chemical warfare in Vietnam. Wilcox warns readers that unless people stop poisoning air, food and water supplies, the cancer epidemic will worsen. He urgently demands the chemical manufacturers of Agent Orange to compensate the victims of their greed and to stop using the Earth's waters as waste dumps.
Vietnam by
Winning the Vietnam War proved easier than winning the peace. Since 1975, the reunited country has faced the problem of how a poorer, planned economy in which state ownership and control could successfully absorb a more advanced, capitalist economy. In addition, the collapse of communism and the end of the Cold War heralded a new age in Vietnam's internal and external relations. Vietnam traces developments since the end of the Vietnam War, including recent economic reforms, the politics of the Communist Party, and the re-establishment of relations with the United States. It gives a comprehensive and informative overview of the current political and economic situation in Vietnam today.
