Liberal Constitutionalism and the Socialist State in an Era of Globalisation: An Inquiry into Vietnam’s Constitutional Discourse and Power Structures

Abstract

The article explores the influences of liberal constitutionalism over the socialist state in an era of globalisation and its impacts on the power structures. Embarking on market-based reforms, the socialist state is increasingly facing with pressures for changes in the Constitution to narrow gaps between real practices and written legal rules as well as to deal with problems in existing governance structure and demands for democratic rights from the public. In that context, political liberalism is making inroads into emerging constitutional discourse which is traditionally dominated by socialist theory. The paper examines the impacts of liberal constitutionalism on Vietnam’s constitutional discourse and power structures and its limits in transforming statist socialism. It is argued that while Vietnam’s constitutional discourse is absorbing many elements of liberal constitutionalism, syncretism controlled by the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV) limits changes in the foundation of power structures and state-society relations.