The Politics of a Divided Party and Parkinson´s State in Vietnam

Abstract

********** The two most important domestic political events in Vietnam in 2001, Ninth Party National Congress and Central Highlands unrest, reveal to observers a divided Vietnamese Communist Party (VCP), and a Parkinson's diseased Political struggle among leadership has bred incohesiveness within VCP and It has diverted attention and resources away from task of good governance. The first part of this article maps political struggle among key leaders at Ninth Congress and examines its major implications. The second part examines Central Highlands unrest and argues that fundamental problems associated with it are lack of a practical land regime as well as inability of party-state to control its bureaucracy Introduction In its Annual Report on Human Rights, U.S. State Department cited Vietnam as a country that lacks certain human rights, such as freedom of press and freedom of speech. (1) It noted: The Socialist Republic of Vietnam is a one-party state, ruled and controlled by Vietnamese Communist Party. The [VCP's] constitutionally mandated leading role and occupancy of all senior government positions by party members ensure primacy of party. Politburo guidelines enable Party to set broad parameters of national policy. These observations, which are more or less repeated every year by U.S. State Department, impress on reader an omnipotent and extremely powerful communist party and The U.S. State Department is not alone in this portrayal of Vietnam. Another recent report says that Vietnam is an old-style communist state. (2) What does that mean? Wire services, while reporting on latest developments in Vietnam, invariably never fail to mention that Vietnam is a communist state and that Vietnamese-Communist Party (VCP) holds all levers of power. Individuals and opposition towards VCP outside Vietnam also lose some credibility when they deliberately portray an unfavourable image of Vietnam. (3) They cast Vietnam as a country that has an imposing political party flexing its muscles at will and achieving its goals at ease. People who uncritically accept popular images forget that in human affairs disagreement and discord are unavoidable. The written rules of politics in Vietnam that provide legal framework are authoritarian, but unwritten rules of elite politics are pluralistic. The unwritten rules are anachronistic to image of unity that country's officials and media try to portray. The pluralistic tendency under an umbrella of authoritarianism began after second Indochina War ended in 1975. Dissension and differences in opinion over foreign policy (4) and economic development policies broke out, much of it in aftermath of economic failure or stagnation as a result of applying orthodox ideas to policies. (5) Opponents of orthodoxy argued for more pragmatic solutions and regimes of socio-economic governance. Throughout 1980s and 1990s, there were continuing and fundamental leadership differences on issue of extent to which ideology should give way to pragmatism even though former is b ecoming less relevant in guiding economic policy. As late as August 2001, at Third Plenum (meeting) of Ninth Central Committee, leadership declared that: the state sector of economy (in which state enterprises are main pillars) shall occupy a leading role and this role is closely associated with country's move towards socialism and stable economic and social development. (6) As a balance to this, reformists within VCP managed to secure a commitment to re-evaluate and reform activities and management of state enterprises. Thus, stalemate continues. Given this constant debate and schizophrenia within Party, VCP cannot be expected to be cohesive on all matters. Similarly, state of Vietnam is controlled and influenced by many forces that pull it in different directions, although VCP is leading influence. …