Vietnam: A Pathway from State Socialism.

• Jurisdiction: Singapore
• Date: 01 August 2020
• Author: Dror, Olga

Vietnam: A Pathway from State Socialism. By Thaveeporn Vasavakul. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2019. Softcover: 79pp.

Thaveeporn Vasavakul's book is part of the Cambridge Elements series on Politics and Society in Southeast Asia that in concise form seeks to elucidate different aspects of regional politics and societies. Vasavakul's book focuses on the period after 1986 when the Vietnamese Communist Party (VCP) pursued a policy of doi moi (renovation) that resulted in spectacular economic growth. This followed the period which Vasavakul calls "state socialism", from 1954 to 1985, first in the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (DRV or North Vietnam) and then in its successor, the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (SRV), that emerged after the unification of the DRV and the Republic of Vietnam (South Vietnam) in 1975. The book consists of an introduction and four chapters: "From State Socialism to Transition"; "State Building"; "Accountability of the Doi moi State"; and "Regime Change and Legitimacy from a Comparative Perspective". Vasavakul relies on a significant array of recent Vietnamese sources including monographs as well as print and online media. She has also extensively consulted Western sources on the subject.

Vasavakul characterizes "state socialism" as an adaptation of core Marxist-Leninist principles for state building. While other scholars of Vietnam have called this "bureaucratic socialism", the "DRV model" or a "centralized planning and bureaucratic subsidy...