Law Reform in Vietnam: The Complex Transition from Socialism and Soviet Models in Legal Scholarship and Training

Abstract

LAW REFORM IN VIETNAM: THE COMPLEX TRANSITION FROM SOCIALISM AND SOVIET MODELS IN LEGAL SCHOLARSHIP AND TRAINING Mark Sidelt I. INTRODUCTION Vietnam, like the nations of the former Soviet Union and East- ern Europe, faces difficult and complex challenges as it moves to- ward a diversified economy and away from Soviet-inspired, centrally planned structures. Whole sectors of the economy have been and are continuing to undergo privatization; price controls have been lifted on most commodities; agricultural land is being decollectivized and then privatized or turned over to farmers on long-term leases; and private business is booming in southern Viet- nam and beginning a rapid expansion in north and central Vietnam.' Encouraging and managing this change is a daunting task for the Vietnamese Communist Party, one of the few communist par- ties that has chosen to enact far-reaching reforms but has been able to remain in power while doing so. These challenges are perhaps no more daunting than in the legal system, which must be rapidly transformed from an instrument of Party political control into a framework for economic diversification and expansion within a very few years. Because the Communist Party is attempting to manage t Program Officer for Vietnam, The Ford Foundation; Assistant Professor of Law, Lewis and Clark Law School; Consultant on Vietnamese law and legal reform, The Ford Foundation (1992); Program Officer for Law and Legal Reform, The Ford Foundation (Beijing) (1988-90); J.D., Columbia University School of Law, 1985; M.A., Yale University, 1982; A.B., Princeton University, 1979. 1. This article is based upon a consultancy report to the Ford Foundation. The report was completed after a consultancy visit to the Socialist Republic of Vietnam in January 1992 at the invitation of Ambassador Phan Hien, Minister of Justice. The full report, Legal Education and Research and Law Reform in Vietnam (Report to the Ford Foundation, 1992) is available from Mark Sidel (The Ford Foundation (Bangkok), 320 East 43rd Street, New York, New York 10017). Additional information for this article was gathered by the author in numerous visits to Vietnam in the fall of 1992.