Vietnam Rethinking the State

by Gainsborough, Martin

• ISBN13: 9781848135659
• ISBN10: 1848135653
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2010-09-15
• Publisher: UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO PRESS

Summary

Vietnam: Rethinking the Stateoffers an exciting and up-to-date look at the politics of this fascinating country as it seeks to make the transition from war-torn economic backwater to a dynamic and modern society. The book argues for a move away from the commonly associated idea of "reform," arguing for a deeper understanding of the concept and questioning the idea of state-retreat. The result is a path-breaking book which gets beneath the surface of Vietnam's politics in a way which few outsiders otherwise could.

Author Biography

Martin Gainsborough is a recognized international expert on Vietnam and its politics. He is Reader in Development Politics in the Department of Politics at the University of Bristol.  He is also director of the Bristol-Mekong Project, and consults widely on aspects of Vietnam's politics and business, notably for the United Nations Development Programme, the UK's Department for International Development, and the World Bank.  He teaches on development studies, Vietnamese and Asian politics, and state theory.  He is author of Changing Political Economy of Vietnam: The Case of Ho Chi Minh City (Routledge, 2003) and editor of On the Borders of State Power: Frontiers in the Greater Mekong Sub-Region (Routledge 2009).

Table of Contents

1. Vietnam, power, and the global age
2. Vietnam at unification
3. Understanding elite politics
4. Reform and its origins
5. Reform and its social consequences
6. Making sense of political change
7. Reform and the countryside
8. Regionalism
9. Corruption
10. Rethinking the state in Vietnam