Community-Driven Regulation: Balancing Development and the Environment in Vietnam

Abstract

Community-Driven Regulation: Balancing Development and the Environment in Vietnam. By Dara O'Rourke. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press, 2004. 288p. 25.00 paper.The prevailing assumption among scholars and policymakers alike is that developing countries have a poor track record when it comes to environmental protection. Dara O'Rourke challenges this assumption through the lens of six extremely well researched case studies of environmental regulation in Vietnam. Specifically, his book is motivated by the puzzle that despite Vietnam's rapid integration into the global economy, weak state capacities, and the promotion of industrialization over environmental protection, effective environmental regulation has emerged. O'Rourke argues that local communities are spearheading environmental protection in Vietnam, and precisely because environmental protection has emerged as a bottom-up effort, which he terms “community-driven regulation” (CDR), Vietnam may be better posed to balance development with environmental concerns.