Civic Organizations in Vietnam’s One-Party State : supporters of authoritarian rule?

Associationalism under authoritarian rule is not automatically a good thing. The empirical findings laid out in this article indicate that authoritarian dispositions and practices are prevalent in all types of Vietnamese civic organizations, at least as far as internal decisionmaking processes are concerned. As is the case in most countries of Southeast Asia, old as well as new ideas of the state and state traditions have a strong impact on the patterns of authoritarianism found in Vietnamese civic organizations. From the empirical findings, it might be concluded that Vietnamese civic organizations support authoritarian rule - though the extent of such support varies; this has generally been an underresearched question. This pioneering article seeks to stimulate further research by offering new insights into how authoritarian power is exercised in Vietnam by addressing how associations' activities stabilize rules, how the associated legitimizing effects can be conceptualized and understood in theoretical terms, and what would be a suitable operationalization of the aforementioned concepts

Why Just Energy Transition Partnerships Are Not Enough

Just Energy Transition Partnerships (JETPs) have been concluded with Global South countries whose energy production is heavily reliant on the use of fossil fuels, especially coal. The partnerships' objective is to support a "just" pathway to energy sector decarbonisation. The potential and pitfalls of the JETP agreements with South Africa, Indonesia, and Vietnam are worthy of closer examination. JETPs are underfunded, with grants constituting only a very small share of their financing. JETPs have significant shortcomings. While South Africa plans to decommission a number of coal-fired power plants, Indonesia and Vietnam will both increase the number of them in use. Only the South African JETP allocates a higher share of investments to more environmentally sustainable energy solutions like solar and wind power, while the Indonesian JETP focuses on geothermal and hydro sources and even includes nuclear energy in the mix. Vietnam’s plan encompasses liquified natural gas and gas-fired power plants. The individual agreements lack a common understanding of what "just" means and reveal significant shortcomings concerning the incorporation of this key dimension. Civil society is not properly listened to, while in Vietnam activists and experts have even been jailed. In all three countries, especially in Indonesia and Vietnam, the prevailing political- economic structures privilege the use of fossil fuels and, as such, represent a significant obstacle to a just energy transition. Any such endeavour requires, accordingly, a change in political and economic power relations

Vietnamese civic organisations: supporters of or obstacles to further democratisation? Results from an empirical survey

In political science and in development cooperation, civic organisations (COs) under authoritarian rule are usually seen as supporters of processes that move towards democratisation. However, these organisations are sometimes criticised for their support of those in power. Within this context, critics refer to the fact that many COs have, for example, authoritarian intra-organisational structures. This characteristic clearly limits their potential to be supporters of democratisation processes. In this paper, we proceed from the assumption that Vietnamese COs can be both supporters of democracy and organisations that help to maintain authoritarian rule; they can sometimes even be both at the same time. COs are "polyvalent" (Kößler). More concretely, what COs are and which role(s) they play in the political system is mainly but not exclusively dependent on the impact the state has on them, and is at the same time dependent on the effects that those organisations have on the state.The results from an empirical survey, supported by the German Research Council (2013-2016) and carried out as a co-operation between the Institute of Asian Studies/GIGA Hamburg and the Vietnam Academy of Social Sciences, suggest the following: - Most Vietnamese COs are hierarchically structured, if not organised in an authoritarian way. They are not "schools of democracy", in the sense of Tocqueville. - Most Vietnamese COs that have engaged in the welfare provision sector, either willingly or unwillingly, have helped to foster the foundations of authoritarianism. - In the field of economic policies, the COs invited by the state to participate in and contribute to the formulation of policies do help, overall, to secure existing power structures, even though these organisations also help change various economic policies and even though their activities produce some democracy-promoting effects. - In the policy field of gender equality, women's rights, and rights of sexual minorities, the mass organisation Vietnam Women's Union supports the state's respective discourse. Some NGOs active in this policy field are doing both: They support and criticise the state's discourse on gender norms and the rights of sexual minorities.In the conclusion, we answer the question of which Vietnamese COs can be seen as supporters of further democratisation and which can be classified as obstacles

Zivilgesellschaftliche Organisationen in Autokratien: Akteure des Wandels?

Zivilgesellschaftliche Organisationen (CSOs) galten lange als Hoffnungsträger für die Demokratisierung. Aber spätestens seit dem "Arabischen Frühling" ist Ernüchterung eingekehrt. In Autokratien stützen CSOs vielfach die Macht der Regierungen. Zur Sicherung ihrer Macht streben autoritäre Regierungen danach, die Gesellschaft zu kontrollieren und zu steuern und insbesondere öffentliche Diskurse zu herrschaftsrelevanten Themen zu dominieren. Vielfach versuchen sie, CSOs für die Verteilung gesellschaftlicher Wohltaten einzuspannen, sie selektiv in Entscheidungsstrukturen einzubinden und dadurch politisch zu neutralisieren. Überregionale und politikfeldspezifische Vergleiche helfen, die Dynamiken von Beziehungen zwischen Staat und CSOs in Autokratien besser zu verstehen. In den postsozialistischen Ländern Algerien, Mosambik und Vietnam beeinflusst der Staat die Art der internen Willensbildung, die Wahl von Aktivitäten und die Auswahl von Führungspersonal in bzw. durch die CSOs. In allen drei Ländern kooptiert der Staat im Wirtschaftsbereich aktive CSOs. In Algerien und Mosambik tragen CSOs zum Erhalt der staatlichen Diskursmacht im Bereich Gender und Frauenrechte bei, in Vietnam haben sie Teil sowohl an deren Erhalt als auch deren Schwächung. Während CSOs in Algerien und Vietnam eher die Macht des Staates im Wohlfahrtsbereich stützen - konkret bei der Bekämpfung von HIV/AIDS -, tragen mosambikanische CSOs in diesem Bereich tendenziell dazu bei, die Macht des Staates zu schwächen. (Entwicklungs-)politische Akteure sollten auf die Durchsetzung der Rechte von Bürgern, sich zu organisieren, drängen. Bei der Zusammenarbeit mit CSOs in Autokratien ist zu prüfen, ob diese zur Verfestigung autoritärer Strukturen beitragen. Geberländer sollten CSOs dabei unterstützen, innerorganisatorische Willensbildungsprozesse demokratisch zu gestalten

Under the State's Thumb: Results from an Empirical Survey of Civic Organizations in Vietnam

Civic organizations (COs) are neither a good nor a bad thing. They are not inherently fighters for democracy or supporters of authoritarian rule. The way they develop depends on the impact that various forms of state power have on them and on their influence on the state. Vietnamese COs appear to be no exception. When we examine just one direction of these interdependent and reciprocal relations, it becomes clear that under the constraints of the Vietnamese state's infrastructural power many Vietnamese COs develop features of intra-organizational authoritarianism; that they help to embed the state and the Communist Party more deeply within Vietnamese society; and, finally, that they contribute to bringing the society further under the control of the state and the party. However, this occurs to a very different degree depending on the type of CO. NGOs and faith-based organizations in particular, at least in the field of gender norms and practices, seem to resist the state's discursive power. This could imply challenges to the state's and the party's control of politics and society and leads the authors to draw far-reaching conclusions as far as developmental cooperation with and potential support for various types of Vietnamese COs is concerned

Do associations support authoritarian rule? Evidence from Algeria, Mozambique, and Vietnam

Whether associations help to democratize authoritarian rule or support those in power is a contested issue that so far lacks a cross-regional, comparative perspective. In this article we focus on five types of associations in three post-socialist countries, situated in different world regions, that are governed by authoritarian regimes. We first explore how infrastructural and discursive state power impact such associations and vice versa. We then discuss whether these associations support the development of citizens' collective and individual self-determination and autonomy and/or whether they negate such self-determination and autonomy - a state of affairs that is at the core of authoritarianism. Our analysis addresses decision-making in associations and three specific policy areas. We find that most of the covered associations accept or do not openly reject state/ruling party interference in their internal decision-making processes. Moreover, in most of these associations the self-determination and autonomy of members are restricted, if not negated. With respect to HIV/AIDS policy, associations in Algeria and Vietnam toe the official line, and thus contribute, unlike their counterparts in Mozambique, to negating the self-determination and autonomy of affected people and other social minorities. Looking at enterprise promotion policy, we find that the co-optation of business and professionals’ associations in all three countries effectively limits democratizing impulses. Finally, in all three countries many, but not all, of the interviewed associations support state-propagated norms concerning gender and gender relationships, thus contributing to limiting the self-determination and autonomy of women in the private sphere

Civil Society Action and Governance in Vietnam: Selected Findings from an Empirical Survey

In this article, findings from 300 standardized interviews with representatives of Civic Organizations in Ho Chi Minh-City and Ha Noi are presented. Following a view of civil society as a specific mode of social action and interaction, data analysis unveils the existence of core dimensions of such action (respect, empathy/ sympathy, and the willingness to compromise and stick to agreed-upon rules), though the respective values of those dimensions vary strongly. Inseparably linked with such civil society action of whatever kind is consensus-seeking, an aversion to conflicts, and an affinity to synthesis. These attitudes and practices, dominating various Civic Organizations’ internal decision-making processes, represent elements of authoritarian political thinking in Civic Organizations’ leaders’ mindsets and courses of action. Combined, those characteristics make up civil society action “in Vietnamese colours”