Vietnam has battled over the years to maintain its freedom from invaders like China, France, and Japan who sought to rule the country by colonizing it. Vietnam had been ruled by China for a considerable amount of time, which led to China having an impact in most areas of Vietnamese life, including education, government, culture, language, and literature. Numerous uprisings against the invaders, China, grew as a result of this. The French invasion of Vietnam began with France helping Vietnam, specifically the Nguyen monarchs, eradicate Catholicism from the nation. (Chandler, David, 392). The French used the opportunity to set a footprint in Asia, leading to the colonization of Vietnam. Viet Minh was started as an umbrella group of all groups whose main aim was to fight for Vietnam’s independence. As a result, the communist party was triumphant and thus dominated Viet Minh. Indochina was invaded by the Japanese during the World War 2. In 1945, the Japanese and French surrendered, while the British forces disarmed the troops. The French in 1947, as a means to re-establish their rule started a war with the Viet Minh.
International Relations
Vietnam has been for a long time been aiming at establishing international relations with an array of nation’s one major country being the United States of America. During the fight for independence from the French, Vietnamese leader, Ho Chi Minh was in the path of seeking support and friendship of the US (Herring, George 50). Viet Minh movement during the Second World War stood with the alliance against fascism. Alongside seeking positive relations with the United States, in the Declaration of Independence of Vietnam in 1945, President Ho Chi Minh borrowed the famous words of the American Declaration of Independence: “All men are created equal. The creator has given us certain inviolable rights: the right to life, the right to be free, and the right to achieve happiness. In the broader sense, this means: all nations in the world are born equal; every nation has the right to life, freedom and happiness.” He went ahead to solemnly declare that, “Vietnam has the right to enjoy freedom and independence, the entire Vietnamese people are determined to devote all their spirit and strength, property and life to preserve their freedom and independence.”
In the bid of gaining favor from the US following the adoption of the American people’s spirit of fighting for independence, Ho Chi Minh was hopeful the US would offer support and help in the fight for the independence of Vietnam from France. He hoped that his belief in the ideals enshrined in the US Declaration of Independence would in a way help in developing and cementing a good relation with America (Young and Kent, 40). To top up on this, Ho Chi Minh went ahead in October 1945, to write to President Truman in the effort to request support from the US in the fight for the country’s independence. All this was done by Vietnam in the bid to forge international relations with the US as well as like-minded nations. In as much as Ho Chi Minh put up a lot of effort, with the US, America did not return a hand, they chose to remain neutral and thus opted to support the Republic of China after its birth, in the bid to curb the “communist threat” that had spread all over Asia (Chandler, David, 379). In 1950 the US further changed its policy towards its stand in the French war against Vietnam, “President Truman in June announced the US’s plan to support France by providing military personnel as well as weapons”. This did not water down well with Vietnam, as their effort to bring on board US to support them in the war did not go as planned, thus affecting their relations.
The 1954 Geneva Conference ended Vietnam’s colonialism by France, resulting to the division of the nation into two states pending free and fair elections. Following the United States of America vested interests in the young nation, only France and Viet Minh signed the Geneva Agreement, while the U.S and South Vietnam refusing to abide. The refusal to abide to the agreement led to South Vietnam being an independent state. This was followed by a number of repercussions, in 1960s South Vietnam was hit by instability with no government maintaining power over a longer period. In 1965, with the help of the U.S, South Vietnam bombarded the Viet Minh, and after ten years of war the South Vietnam surrendered. This was the first instance through which the United States of America, started any relations with Vietnam, even if it was one side, in this case South Vietnam. This resulted to the unification of the nation and further renaming to Socialist Republic of Vietnam (SRVN) making Hanoi its capital. In as much as the unification of both states brought about social order in the former South Vietnam, it led to the imprisonment to hard labor camps of former high officials related to South Vietnam. The newly formed government SRVN became dictatorial leading to the controlling of all security networks in people’s lives leading to the ban of music, art as well as literature prior to 1975. Many people fled the south through the use of a clandestine network.
The adoption of the revised constitution in 1992 by Vietnam saw the nation open up to new opportunities in terms of forging good relations with other countries that would be of benefit to it in terms of trade and the development of its grappling economy. This promoted capitalism which the rest of the world could identify with, thus attracting foreign investors. The 2001 bilateral trade agreement between the US and Vietnam saw the two nations cement their relations that in turn benefit the citizens of both nations.
Political
From history, Vietnam has had a combination of various ideologies in its political and legal systems. The system with regard to the legal, has an array of aspects from the French, America, and Chinese which have in a long period of time impacted the Vietnam’s tradition of law. With reference to the legal system in Vietnam, scholars bring to light the influence of Confucianism, whereby the rule of morality overpowered the rule of law (Chandler, David, 401). This is until recently, the Vietnamese relied more on the aspects of customs laid down, morality, kinship or political linage as the way of life compared to following the rule of law. With regard to the Chinese influence in Vietnam, the strong criminal orientation was adopted from the Chinese Imperial Code, which was characterized with the citizens having limited or no access to the law. In the 1940s Vietnam was characterized by collectivization in the economic and political policy, which saw the state take up land and industries by putting them under state ownership as well as control. This was a clear indication of embracing a government controlled economy which was a characteristic of a Soviet-style.
Vietnam is among the few nations that still hold onto communist party with a well-established socialist regime. Under the current political framework, the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV) continues to take all the powers appertaining policy making and ideology. The CPV pivot point is Politburo and executive secretariat. In Vietnam, the highest political body is the National assembly which is above both judiciary and executive branches and thus has the legislative and constitutional power. The authority vested in the National Assembly is broad, “including the power to: pass and amend the constitution, make and amend laws; organize, grant authority and dictate the activities of the National Assembly itself, the state, presidency, supreme and local people’s court, people’s Procuracy, and local administrations; appoint and remove the president, Vice president, chair and vice chair of the National Assembly, standing Committee of the National Assembly, Prime Minister, Chief Justice and judges of the Supreme People’s Court and Chief Procurator; pass economic and social plans, monetary policies and state budgets; and approve and adopt foreign policies.”
Following the declaration of independence from the French, in 1954 North Vietnam state opted for the centralized legal system. On the other hand, in South Vietnam where French legal system was still in use, was influences as well by the US. “This was evident in the 1960 when a new constitutional framework was adopted, consisting of a presidential system and separation of powers between the executive, legislative and judicial branches.”
Economic
1975 Vietnam saw the withdrawal of the US forces resulting to the assertion of the communist regime all over the country. Rule by decree took center stage as the people on government showcased a negative attitude towards both the legal and colonial systems, leading to the elimination of the Ministry of Justice in 1961. This affected the Vietnamese way of life as every activity was controlled by the government with more focus on the commercial ones, authorization was by law. Guiding principles by the state took center stage on matters of legal interpretation. The restrictive policies by the Vietnam government led to crises that ranged from the agricultural, economic and social sectors. The areas most affected were production of agricultural good, lack of foreign investment as result of cutting of foreigners coupled with too much bureaucracies, job creation opportunities, annual inflation rate surpassing one hundred percent, as well as financial resources were insufficient to support the economy of the nation (Chandler, David, 385). With the reduction in economic assistance from the state in 1970s, 1975 saw the total dysfunction of the Vietnamese economy resulting to the emergence of a black market. In a bid to bring back to life the economy of Vietnam, in 1986 at the 6th Communist Party Congress, policies had to be put in place to favor market based systems. This brought in a new era that saw Vietnam adopt “Doi Moi” which translates to renovation in that they adopted a market based economy with the aim of attracting foreign investors.
In as much as Vietnam embraced Doi Moi there was still drawbacks in the economic sector as the expected foreign investors were faced with many issues that would otherwise be solved (Turley, William, 42). For instance, the lack of regulations and guidelines that would have gone long way in ensuring rules were understood and adhered to by both parties. Dispute resolution mechanism were also missing, the Vietnamese officials would often times dismiss the laws by not complying to them, and also minimal or lack of competition in the vital economic sectors. Doi Moi was not felt by all citizens and thus the results were mixed because of the government arm-twisting and favoritism towards the state. 1992 saw Vietnam transition to a market economy following the adoption of a revised constitution, which in writing called for the government to, “promote a multi-component commodity economy functioning in accordance with the market mechanisms under the management of the state and following a socialist orientation.” the adoption of the revised constitution came in as a new ray of light to Vietnam, it brought along a whole new ideological change that saw the replacement of the political body as well as structures that limited the growth and focus of the state. The constitution promoted the open market economy. With a relief on the foreign investors, as both private property and enterprises are acknowledged and permitted accompanied by the granting of legal ownership of their assets, the provision also brings to light the guarantee that foreign private assets would neither be condemned nor nationalized by the Vietnam government.
2001 saw signing of a bilateral trade agreement between Vietnam and the United States of America. There are an array of reasons behind the agreement including the demise of former Soviet Union, the negative and positive results brought about by the adoption of Doi Moi, Asian financial crisis, in 1995 the Vietnam and U.S had normalized their political relations following President Clinton’s visit to Vietnam. On yet another front, the Chinese exports kept on increasing thus the need to sign the agreement. Following the signing, the Vietnamese market was effectively opened in terms of trading in services, goods, investments as well as intellectual property (Buttinger, Joseph, 109). In order for the country to keep on improving on matters of economic development, there was need to be part of a global group as well as adhere to the laid-out rules and regulations. This provision saw Vietnam’s accession to the world trade organization in 2006, despite the long frustration and complex process. Before the accession to WTO, “Vietnam had to enact a few changes in the law of Enterprises, the investment law and many tax laws” in order for it to be at par with the rest of the WTO members.
Social/Cultural/Religious Aspects
The name Vietnam originated from the Nguyen Dynasty when in search of diplomatic relations from the Chinese court in Beijing. From its origin Vietnam has had a lot of distinctiveness in its culture as well as society from the word “Viet” meanwhile “Nam” projected the expansion of its territory. After 1945 Vietnam has gone through a lot of changes in terms of social and cultural aspects. During the era of “renovation best known as Doi Moi” there were tremendous changes that majorly leaned towards social change. On the positive side, Doi Moi brought about better living standards for the people thanks to the introduction of market economy. This also came with its fair share of negative impacts such as, the HIV-AIDS epidemic, diverse regional tension, the officials became more corrupt favoring their own, as well as social inequality among the citizens, leading to the rise in poverty levels in certain regions due to the seclusion. This in the long run over the period brought about deterrence in the socio-economic development.
With regard to the linguistic affiliation, Vietnamese is the dominant language by a large percentage of the population. Vietnamese is a tonal Mon-Khmer with an influence of Chinese lexical. The diverse dialectical differences represent the identity of the various regions in Vietnam in the social circle (Beresford, Melanie, 261). Following the declaration of independence, the republic of Vietnam in the 1945, the government has made tremendous effort of ensuring the population literacy rates have improved (Biddington, Ralph and Judith Biddington 50). In the consequent years in the twentieth century most of the Vietnam population went ahead to master other languages such as English, French second to Vietnamese.
When it comes to symbolism in Vietnam, it ranges from a variety of items and symbols that represent the nation as a whole. Vietnam uses a flag that is red in color alongside five pointed star in both yellow and red; the image and statue of Ho Chi Minh the first president of the independent Vietnam; statues of soldiers and workers adorning green pith helmets while carrying weapons. The image of Ho is present on currency as well as buildings and even hanged by some of the citizens in the northern part of the country. Ho Chi Minh image is seen everywhere because of the aspect of him always advocating for national unity in Vietnam with his common expression that, “all Vietnamese are children of one house” with regard to when the north and south were separated. Women are also seen wearing the ao dai that is regarded the Vietnam national dress which is long and flowing.
Vietnam’s national identity is intertwined with the use of the Vietnamese language. Most of the citizens feel proud of their language as well as the complexities there in, alongside the array of proverbs enshrined in the Vietnamese. The cultural aspect of Vietnam is showcased in an array of activities and functions as well as the people’s way of life. For instance, the national identity is clearly seen in the customary events such as ancestral worship performances by families, the traditional wedding ceremonies and funerals. Another factor put into consideration is the Vietnamese food, which is distinct from other neighboring nations such as China, this ranges from the ingredients and the way of preparing meals. Rice is the staple food but it is taken alongside canh, nioc mam, and leafy sautéed vegetables. Alongside the fore mentioned aspects of national representations, there is the architectural traces of the various phase the nation went through to get to where it is now especially in the Vietnam’s cities.
Social stratification is brought forth in the form of symbols and class. In the 1990s a large percentage of the Vietnamese population were living below the poverty line most of these lived in the rural areas. Overtime the social classification increased basing upon wealth with more focus on the urban area dwellers, on another front individuals in business and government are linked to wealth. Mental labor mostly referred to as white collar jobs individuals tend to be more respected and dignified as an aspect of wealth, compared to the manual labor workers. Consumer goods are yet another way through which social stratification takes shape, for example, people are considered well able when they own automobiles, can afford foreign travel as well as expensive homes.
Division of labor in Vietnam is based on gender as men are often associated with the public domain “ngoi” while women take charge of domestic affairs domain “noi” (Goodkind, Daniel 54). In the urban setting, this is still evident as men are associated with senior positions ranging from government, businesses, political offices as well in religious settings for instance, Buddhist monk and catholic priests (Buttinger, Joseph, 69). Women on the other hand are often given the lower level service positions such as secretaries in offices and waitress (Goodkind, Daniel 354). Marriage, family and kinship are core aspects in Vietnam. Marriage is expected of every member of the society as it is a rite of passage for one to transition to adulthood. In terms of etiquette, polite behavior is valued by Vietnamese people with most of the focus on the young to show ultimate respect to their elders.
Environmental Aspect
Just like most of the Asian nations Vietnam has had hurdles with regard the conservation of the environment. Before 1945 Vietnam was not threatened by the changes in the environment as it is now. In 1950s industries were not as developed as now and the pollution levels were on the minimum scale. Today an array of environmental issues tends to follow Vietnam as is the rest of the world, for instance global warming, pollution both air and water. With the increase in population by Vietnamese, comes the issue of need for land for settlement. Deforestation is one of the key issues that has resulted to the loss of habitat. Due to industrialization, urbanization and intensive farming by the citizens, Vietnam is faced with the oil slicks, polluted air as well as dead rivers and seas (Forbes, Dean 24). With regard to intensive farming and industrialization, there was rise in lack of waste treatment originating from the fore mentioned activities which led to soil erosion, sedimentation of rivers in Vietnam, flooding in the deltas as well as a decline in fish yields. The Mekong and Red River Deltas threatened because of global warming which would result in increased sea level (Quang, Nguyen and Hans Detlef Kammeier 375).
Works Cited
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