Overview and Contents

The Routledge Handbook of Contemporary Vietnam is a comprehensive resource exploring social, political, economic, and cultural aspects of Vietnam, one of contemporary Asia’s most dynamic but least understood countries. Following an introduction that highlights major changes that have unfolded in Vietnam over the past three decades, the volume is organized into four thematic parts:

  • Politics and Society
  • Economy and Society
  • Social Life and Institutions
  • Cultures in Motion

Part I addresses key aspects of Vietnam’s politics, from the role of the Communist Party of Vietnam in shaping the country’s institutional evolution, to continuity and change in patterns of socio-political organization, political expression, state repression, diplomatic relations, and human rights. Part II assesses the transformation of Vietnam’s economy, addressing patterns of economic growth, investment and trade, the role of the state in the economy, and other economic aspects of social life. Parts III and IV examine developments across a variety of social and cultural fields through chapters on themes including welfare, inequality, social policy, urbanization, the environment and society, gender, ethnicity, the family, cuisine, art, mass media, and the politics of remembrance.

Featuring 38 essays by leading Vietnam scholars from around the world, this book provides a cutting-edge analysis of Vietnam’s transformation and changing engagement with the world. It is an invaluable interdisciplinary reference work that will be of interest to students and academics of Southeast Asian studies, as well as policymakers, analysts, and anyone wishing to learn more about contemporary Vietnam.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Chapter 1|17 pages

How to Study Contemporary Vietnam?

ByJonathan D. London

Part Part I|109 pages

Politics and Society

Chapter 2|27 pages

The Communist Party of Vietnam

Consolidating Market-Leninism
ByJonathan D. London

Chapter 3|14 pages

Political Representation in Contemporary Vietnam

ByPaul Schuler

Chapter 4|11 pages

Public Political Criticism in Vietnam, 1990s–2018

ByBenedict J. Tria Kerkvliet

Chapter 5|15 pages

Civil Society and Advocacy Networks in Vietnam

ByAndrew Wells-Dang

Chapter 6|16 pages

The Role of the Military and Public Security in Contemporary Vietnam

ByCarlyle A. Thayer

Chapter 7|13 pages

Human Rights in Contemporary Vietnam

ByGisle Kvanvig

Chapter 8|11 pages

Vietnam’s Foreign Policy

Structure, Evolution, and Contemporary Challenges
ByLe Hong Hiep

Part Part II|141 pages

Economy and Society

Chapter 10|15 pages

Vietnam’s Foreign Direct Investment and Export Performance

ByPrema-chandra Athukorala, Trung Kien Nguyen

Chapter 11|20 pages

Contemporary Vietnam

State Effectiveness Under Conditions of Commercialization
ByJonathan Pincus

Chapter 13|17 pages

Decentralization and Economic Development in Vietnam

ByEdmund Malesky

Chapter 14|17 pages

Contradictions of Multistakeholder Labor Relations in Vietnam

ByAngie Ngọc Trần

Chapter 15|8 pages

Land in Contemporary Vietnam

ByNguyễn Văn Sửu

Chapter 16|14 pages

Market Personhood in Urban Southern Vietnam

ByAnn Marie Leshkowich

Chapter 17|11 pages

Contemporary Vietnam’s Economy in Historical Perspective

Đổi Mới or Đổi Lại?
ByGerard Sasges

Part Part III|201 pages

Social Life and Institutions

Chapter 18|18 pages

Welfare, Inequality, and Opportunity in Contemporary Vietnam

ByJonathan D. London, Jonathan Pincus

Chapter 19|18 pages

Education and Development in Vietnam

A Glass Half Full?
ByDiep Phan, Ian Coxhead

Chapter 20|15 pages

Contemporary Vietnam’s Health Status and Health System

ByTran Khanh Toan

Chapter 21|15 pages

Post-Colonial Urbanization in Vietnam

Urban Order and Unruliness
ByErik Harms, Danielle Labbé

Chapter 22|15 pages

Sociocultural Life and Social Relations in Rural Vietnam’s Lowlands

ByHy Van Luong, Phan Văn Dốp

Chapter 23|10 pages

The Cosmopolitan Delta

Ethnic Pluralism at the Mouth of the Mekong
ByPhilip Taylor

Chapter 24|14 pages

Ethnic Minorities in Vietnam

State Relations and Social Change
ByPamela McElwee

Chapter 25|14 pages

Environment and Society in Contemporary Vietnam

Development, Crisis, and Responses
ByNga Dao

Chapter 26|12 pages

The Family in Contemporary Viet Nam

ByNguyen Huu Minh

Chapter 27|19 pages

Feminism in Vietnam

Women’s Studies, Gender Research, and Intersections
ByHương Thu Nguyễn, Helle Rydstrom

Chapter 28|14 pages

Masculinity and Violence in Vietnam 1

ByHelle Rydstrom

Chapter 29|11 pages

Marriage, Family, and Kinship in Vietnam

Shadows and silences
ByTine M. Gammeltoft

Chapter 30|13 pages

The Affairs of Men

Masculinity in Contemporary Vietnam 1
ByLinh Khanh Nguyen, Jack Dash Harris

Chapter 31|11 pages

LGBTQ in Vietnam

Heteronormativity and Resistance
ByPaul Horton, Helle Rydstrom

Part Part IV|100 pages

Cultures in Motion

Chapter 32|11 pages

Contemporary Vietnamese Cuisine 1

ByChristopher M. Annear, Jack Dash Harris

Chapter 33|16 pages

Driving Doi Moi

Motorbikes, Cars, and Capitalism in Vietnam’s Socialist Market Economy
ByArve Hansen

Chapter 34|13 pages

Religion in Contemporary Vietnam

ByHoàng Văn Chung

Chapter 35|17 pages

Movements of Independent Art in Contemporary Vietnam

ByBùi Kim Đĩnh

Chapter 36|14 pages

Revolutionary Journalism in Contemporary Vietnam

ByNguyen-Pochan Thi Thanh Phuong

Chapter 37|10 pages

Popular television

Socialist Politics and Market Competition
ByGiang Nguyen-Thu

Chapter 38|17 pages

Remembrance, Commemoration, and Revolutionary Apparitions

Ritualizing Connections with the Past and the Future in Vietnam
ByOscar Salemink