Agrarian agitations: transcripts of resistance and authoritarian feedback under Vietnam’s repressive-responsive regime

Abstract

ABSTRACTAuthoritarian responsiveness, as opposed to repression, is expected to quell social unrest. Yet, not only did institutionalized measures to strengthen citizen rights in Vietnam’s 2013 Land Law fail to mitigate social unrest, but unrest also became more explosive in the Dong Tam land clash, the deadliest to have taken place in Vietnam’s contemporary history. Why does authoritarian responsiveness fail to alleviate social contention? How can responsiveness subsequently heighten, rather than diminish, social resistance? This article explains the paradox of responsiveness by developing a feedback theory of repression-responsiveness through a case study of the Dong Tam land conflict. We argue that authoritarian responsiveness can amplify unrest by providing citizens with a legible transcript for contentious claim-making. At the same time, it also equips the regime with a public transcript to limit accommodations of societal claims and to engage in repression. This exploitation of the law, in turn, provides positive feedback to unrest while encouraging citizens to further adopt the regime’s own transcript in their resistance.