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Has Nguyen Phu Trong's Leadership Curbed Economic Reform? Economic Reform Trends in Vietnam
Author(s) -
Sakata Shozo
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
asian economic policy review
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.58
H-Index - 20
eISSN - 1748-3131
pISSN - 1832-8105
DOI - 10.1111/aepr.12301
Subject(s) - politics , economic reform , administration (probate law) , state (computer science) , public administration , contradiction , transformative learning , retrenchment , political science , economics , political economy , sociology , law , pedagogy , philosophy , epistemology , algorithm , computer science
This paper argues how the features of Vietnam's political‐administrative system and their recent changes have affected economic reform, particularly reform of state‐owned enterprises. After the 12th Party Congress in 2016, the Party Secretary General Nguyen Phu Trong's administration has seemed to exaggerate its conservative and totalitarian‐looking rule in the political arena. In contrast, the economic reform policies introduced by Trong's administration seem more transformative and progressive. This paper suggests that this contradiction must indicate changes in the policies relating to the state management of economic entities and/or a disguised form of reform to retain state influence over economic management, both of which tend to end up with pervasive rent‐seeking practices.