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15945 results in ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute

Page 664 of 798

  • 9 - Female Garment Workers: The New Young Volunteers in Vietnam's Modernization

  • Edited by Philip Taylor
  • Book:
    Social Inequality in Vietnam and the Challenges to Reform
    Published by:
    ISEAS–Yusof Ishak Institute
    Published online:
    21 October 2015
    Print publication:
    23 November 2004, pp 297-324

  • Summary

    My mother often told me that it is not easy for garment girls to get married. I think it is quite true. In my previous workshop, there were 42 workers and we all were girls. No boys. We were working and living in the same place. After finishing work at 7 or 8 o'clock in the evening, the guard locked the main door so that we could not go out and no one could come in. He was afraid because we were all girls and far away from our families. Because our parents asked him to take care of us, he was afraid of not knowing what to say to our parents, in the event that “something bad” happened to us. (A garment worker in a private workshop in Co Nhue)

    In Vietnam unmarried women, still living in their parents' home, are often compared to bombs that can explode at any moment. It is quite significant that the sexuality of unmarried women is compared to something as violent and destructive as a bomb. As the above quote demonstrates, such a view is also prevalent in the fastest-growing industry in Vietnam since the liberalization of the economy, namely, the sweatshops. In the eyes of many male managers and other male personnel, young unmarried female workers, most of whom migrate from the countryside, are deemed to be susceptible to “modern life”. This is a metaphor for sexual promiscuity. One of the important methods that sweatshop owners use to control the labour power of their single female workers is to police what is supposed to be their private sex life.

    This focus on the sexuality of migrant labourers, as illustrated by the confinement experienced by the garment workers in Co Nhue, indicates the need for a new approach to the study of female workers' experiences of economic liberalization. In Vietnam, there are two loosely linked main types of literature on this topic. One concerns the impact of the economic reforms on the working conditions of women workers. The other explores the impact of the economic reforms on gender and the sexuality of Vietnamese women in general.

  • 3 - Behind the Numbers: Social Mobility, Regional Disparities, and New Trajectories of Development in Rural Vietnam

  • Edited by Philip Taylor
  • Book:
    Social Inequality in Vietnam and the Challenges to Reform
    Published by:
    ISEAS–Yusof Ishak Institute
    Published online:
    21 October 2015
    Print publication:
    23 November 2004, pp 90-122

  • Summary

    The spatial and regional dimensions of inequality and economic development have been gaining more attention in the past few years. What have been the spatial ramifications of Vietnam's recent reforms — the geographies of socio-economic transition? Are the benefits of doi moi's economic success being experienced equally in regions around Vietnam, or concentrated in a few core areas? How can rural inter-regional inequality in Vietnam be characterized, and why have some areas and some people benefited more than others? These are some of the questions considered in this chapter. The doi moi economic reforms introduced since the late 1980s in Vietnam implied a shift away from collective agriculture, the endorsement of private economic activity, and the legalization of foreign investment. The growing market economy is leading the population out of the shared poverty that characterized the period of subsidies and collectivization. But the process is also producing greater degrees of socio-economic differentiation at multiple scales: between households, ethnic groups, villages, and regions. This chapter outlines the emerging socio-economic trends in regional disparities and the multiple mechanisms at work in shaping these disparities in Vietnam.

    Some economic analyses consider rises in inequality (or divergence in regional development measures) as inevitable outcomes of economic growth at certain stages in the development process. Other theories predict convergence, suggesting that over time the inequalities will lessen. One problem with such theories is that they do not consider non-economic determinants of regional inequality. Vietnam has an extremely diverse physical geography, which has shaped the evolution of its human geography as well. Natural resources, soil fertility, and being located in areas prone to floods or storms, or in mountainous and remote areas are all factors that contribute to regional disparities in income. However, as opportunities for off-farm income rise, these physical geography factors are less important than socio-economic variables in explaining regional inequalities. Location has an important effect on the economic strength of some regions over others.

  • 2 - Vietnam's Recent Economic Reforms and Developments: Achievements, Paradoxes, and Challenges

  • Edited by Philip Taylor
  • Book:
    Social Inequality in Vietnam and the Challenges to Reform
    Published by:
    ISEAS–Yusof Ishak Institute
    Published online:
    21 October 2015
    Print publication:
    23 November 2004, pp 63-89

  • Summary

    Economic reform in Vietnam was initiated in the early 1980s. However, the real turning point in the history of Vietnam's economic development came with the renovation (doi moi) reforms in 1986 and especially the radical market-oriented reform of 1989. As for other economies in transition, Vietnam has had to deal with three key sets of reforms: liberalization and stabilization; institutional changes that support market exchange and shape ownership; and the establishment of social programmes to ease the pain of transition (World Bank 1996). Vietnam's reform process has also been uneven. It was recognized even in 1996 that the reforms were limited and were not keeping pace with economic development. Moreover, the reform process in general slowed down during the period 1996–99, especially after the Asian crisis. The years 2000–2003 witnessed new commitments to continue with the reforms and some progress was made, especially in the development of private sector and trade liberalization. Meanwhile, the reform of state-owned enterprises (SOEs), the banking system, and public administration were slower than expected and this has limited the effectiveness and efficiency of other reforms.

    Since the 1989 reforms, the face of Vietnam's economy and society has changed significantly. Vietnam has recorded remarkable achievements in terms of growth in gross domestic product (GDP), control of inflation, export expansion, and poverty reduction. It is now generally recognized that Vietnam is among the best developing countries in terms of having achieved relatively high economic growth while reducing poverty incidence. But some are of the view that in international comparison Vietnam's performance is not really spectacular and that there are problems in sustaining economic growth and ensuring quality of development.

    This chapter is about the reform process in Vietnam with particular focus on recent developments. It also identifies some key problems and even “paradoxes” associated with structural changes in the economy. Paradoxes are understood in the sense that these changes are not to be expected of an economy in transition that also has a prolonged and high economic growth.

  • 8 - The Politics of Land: Inequality in Land Access and Local Conflicts in the Red River Delta since Decollectivization

  • Edited by Philip Taylor
  • Book:
    Social Inequality in Vietnam and the Challenges to Reform
    Published by:
    ISEAS–Yusof Ishak Institute
    Published online:
    21 October 2015
    Print publication:
    23 November 2004, pp 270-296

  • Summary

    In the late 1950s, shortly after a radical land reform in the northern half of Vietnam, agriculture based on family household farming was gradually reorganized into collective production that took small-scale co-operatives as the main production units. From the early 1960s, agricultural collectivization increased in scale and intensity, based on three key principles: collective ownership of the means of production, centralized management of production, and equal allocation of production output on the basis of points. From the early 1980s, however, a process of decollectivizing agriculture started and continued into the early 1990s (Chu Van Lam et al. 1992). This process went alongside the development of a new land tenure system that clarified three types of substantial rights in land: rights of ownership, rights of management, and rights of use to be held by various holders. At the same time, the state has been implementing the essential programmes of industrialization and modernization in rural areas.

    Decollectivization in agriculture in Vietnam has not only led to economic development and diversification but has also increased social differentiation in the countryside (Dang Canh Khanh 1991; Nguyen Van Tiem 1993; Nguyen Xuan Nguyen 1995; Tuong Lai 1995; Nguyen Van Thieu 1995; Hy Van Luong and Unger 1999). One of the aspects of this social differentiation process is inequality among various parties and institutions with regard to access to land at the local level. To this date, different patterns of inequality in land access since decollectivization have been uncovered in some parts of Vietnam. In the Mekong delta, some researchers have highlighted increasing disparities among the local population with regard to access to land use (Nguyen The Nha 1998; Nguyen Dinh Huong 1999; Bui Van Trinh 2000). In Tay Nguyen, scholars have also illustrated the situation in which a large number of indigenous people have lost most or all of their land and forest resources to the hands of the state plantations and new individual comers (Dang Nghiem Van 2002; Vu Dinh Loi 2000).

  • 4 - From Collectivization to Globalization: Social Differentiation in a Muong Ethnic Community of Vietnam

  • Edited by Philip Taylor
  • Book:
    Social Inequality in Vietnam and the Challenges to Reform
    Published by:
    ISEAS–Yusof Ishak Institute
    Published online:
    21 October 2015
    Print publication:
    23 November 2004, pp 123-165

  • Summary

    Over the last decade, social differentiation in Vietnam has been one of the most discussed issues among both academics and policy-makers. The reason for this growing interest lies in the assumption that Vietnam had been a rather equal society during the collective period from the early 1960s to the mid-1980s, and that it has since become differentiated due to reform policies launched towards the end of that period.

    But what does the term “social differentiation” imply exactly in the Vietnamese context? Researchers and policy-makers view this new phenomenon from different angles, as reflected in their use of language. Some document different forms of bat binh dang (inequalities), with an emphasis on income and wealth disparities. Others highlight the processes that lead to such inequalities — phan tang xa hoi (stratification), or more specifically phan hoa giau ngheo (economic differentiation). Still others, although fewer, choose to study the process of phan hoa giai cap (class differentiation).

    Such variety in research emphases carries both political and policy implications. Some consider inequality as a necessary outcome of the market economy, and are mostly concerned with mitigating obstacles that might lay on the road to economic growth, such as corruption and other so-called social evils. Others are worried that economic inequality might lead to the re-emergence of classes and related exploitation, against which the Vietnamese state had bitterly fought, and on whose suppression it continues to base part of its legitimacy.

    Whatever their political agenda, researchers on Vietnam have the same problem as the literature on differentiation in general, that is, the failure to provide a clear distinction between forms and processes of differentiation. This is despite a substantive epistemic contribution by Ben White in 1989, which, instead of debating the merits of different theories of differentiation, focuses on the aspects of differentiation, namely causes, mechanisms, and indicators that are specific to a particular context (pp. 25–26). Moreover, while studying differentiation implies the documentation of different forms of inequality, White's analysis emphasizes processes of changing relations, notably, of production, between different social groups (pp. 19–20).

  • 11 - Leisure and Social Mobility in Ho Chi Minh City

  • Edited by Philip Taylor
  • Book:
    Social Inequality in Vietnam and the Challenges to Reform
    Published by:
    ISEAS–Yusof Ishak Institute
    Published online:
    21 October 2015
    Print publication:
    23 November 2004, pp 351-379

  • Summary

    This chapter describes an emerging culture of leisure among upwardly mobile migrant women in Ho Chi Minh City. The discussion focuses on the desires of and strategies used by urban migrant women, to show to others their acquired status and achievements via their recreational choices. The significance of a range of relationships between leisure and social mobility is explored through women's chosen activities in terms of their own plans for the future and those of their families. Like career options, higher income, higher levels of education, real estate and asset ownership, and use of household technologies, greater access to leisure is treated as an observable social transformation that stems from changes in economic policy and production (PuruShotam 1998). As such, leisure is both an indicator of social differentiation and distinction, but also becomes a means for demonstrating status and social mobility via markers of elite status which are recognized and responded to by others.

    Even though middle classes have been present for decades in East and Southeast Asia, there is now increasing commentary on their “re-emergence” particularly as “new rich” (for example, see Chan 2000, pp. 99, 101–2; Chua and Tan 1999, p. 151; Ockey 1999, pp. 233–34). Recent media sources, including the Internet as well as glossy magazines, now provide young people with a new form of access to leisure lifestyling. Although existing in the memories of the older generation, such experiences may be “new” to younger people and can be seen reemerging and rapidly adapting to new economic conditions resulting from the doi moi economic reforms after 1986. It is the recentness of these changes coupled with the absence of previous academic scholarship on the middle classes that makes an anthropological focus attractive. The subsequent discussion thus draws heavily on my own qualitative data, in particular by highlighting examples through the retelling of ethnographic anecdotes based on fieldwork experiences.

  • Preface

  • Edited by Philip Taylor
  • Book:
    Social Inequality in Vietnam and the Challenges to Reform
    Published by:
    ISEAS–Yusof Ishak Institute
    Published online:
    21 October 2015
    Print publication:
    23 November 2004, pp xi-xii

  • Summary

    Changes in the social distribution of wealth are among the most commented-upon consequences of Vietnam's transition from a centrally planned to a market economy. Yet the scope and significance of these impacts also are among the most difficult to assess. Based on research and analysis of recent conditions in Vietnam, this book provides a detailed description of social inequalities in Vietnam. Analysing evidence drawn from the northern uplands to the Mekong delta, it investigates the growth in disparities between rich and poor, urban and rural communities, and along regional, gender, and ethnic lines. The eleven chapters that make up the work provide critical insights into state policy, examining the adequacy of government responses and outlining local responses to social disadvantage.

    This book is the outcome of a Vietnam Update conference on the topic “Social Differentiation in Vietnam”, which was held at the Australian National University in November 2003. The Vietnam Updates are an annual forum involving participants from Vietnam and other countries, whose objective is to discuss issues of significance to Vietnam's development orientation. The considerable turn-out and lively debate at the conference on social differentiation is one indicator of the urgency of this problem in present-day Vietnam.

    Several features made the conference a unique contribution to exploring the extent and the implications of social inequalities in Vietnam. The paper-presenters came from seven different countries, allowing a scrutiny of the issues from a variety of perspectives. The conference involved Vietnamese state officials, Vietnam-based academics and participants originally from Vietnam, now living abroad, each of whom sees the issues facing their society in different ways. Such diversity in the speakers' backgrounds is representative of a trend towards increased decentralization in the social scientific study of Vietnam. The conference also showcased a number of different disciplinary perspectives and methodologies. Because they came from such diverse social scientific traditions the presenters were obliged to find a common language in which to share and defend their results and to reconcile the differences without recourse to disciplinary jargon.

  • 5 - Political Capital, Human Capital, and Inter-generational Occupational Mobility in Northern Vietnam

  • Edited by Philip Taylor
  • Book:
    Social Inequality in Vietnam and the Challenges to Reform
    Published by:
    ISEAS–Yusof Ishak Institute
    Published online:
    21 October 2015
    Print publication:
    23 November 2004, pp 166-207

  • Summary

    This chapter examines the role of political capital and human capital in shaping inter-generational occupational mobility in northern Vietnam. Research in other (post-)socialist countries has generated a good number of theories on the relative role of political and human capital in social mobility, particularly in relation to market reforms. Market reforms are expected to gradually replace political capital with human capital as a main determinant of occupational attainment (Nee 1989; Szelényi 1988). Or market reforms will not alter the basis for occupational attainment, either because human capital continues to determine job attainment under both socialism and capitalism (Gerber 2000; Róna-Tas 1994), or because political capital is converted into economic advantage during market reforms (Róna-Tas 1994; Staniszkis 1991). The heated debate on the relative impact of political capital and human capital on social mobility in (post-)socialist countries has largely bypassed Vietnam (cf. Korinek 2002, chap. 8). I will seek to bring this broader debate to bear on inter-generational occupational mobility in Vietnamese society.

    While Vietnam's experience of central planning and market reforms permits a comparative perspective, one should not lose sight of the specific local context in which these historical changes have unfolded. A defining feature of modern Vietnamese history is its prolonged war experience. While wars in Vietnam have been studied extensively, research on their impact on social inequality in Vietnam has yet to begin. I address this question by examining how military service in wartime affected political-capital attainment and occupational mobility. In so doing, this chapter will discern both similarity and difference between Vietnam and other (post-)socialist countries in terms of the underlying dynamics of occupational mobility.

    Data for this study come from the 1995 panel of the Vietnam Longitudinal Survey (VLS) conducted in three northern provinces — Ha Nam, Nam Dinh, and Ninh Binh. As northern Vietnam was under a socialist centralized economy from the early 1950s until recent years, this dataset is particularly suitable for understanding the impact of political capital and human capital on occupational mobility. Moreover, information on party membership and military service, which is not available in most other survey data on Vietnam, makes the VLS dataset particularly useful.

  • 10 - Class, Nation, and Text: The Representation of Peasants in Vietnamese Literature

  • Edited by Philip Taylor
  • Book:
    Social Inequality in Vietnam and the Challenges to Reform
    Published by:
    ISEAS–Yusof Ishak Institute
    Published online:
    21 October 2015
    Print publication:
    23 November 2004, pp 325-350

  • Summary

    In Vietnam, throughout a long history of political and military struggles, the question of nation has been a central theme in ideological debates and literary creativity. The idea of nation helped bind Vietnamese people together and underline the difference between “us” (Vietnamese) and “them” (foreign invaders). Throughout much of the twentieth century, the concept of nation was carefully constructed to remind people of national sovereignty and the threats by foreign troops. This idea had a great influence on the representation of peasants in modern Vietnamese literature. However, this chapter argues that the idea of nation failed to efface underlying dimensions of social differentiation although it is emphasized as an important element in the depiction of peasants. Peasant characters occupy a large space in the domain of twentieth century Vietnamese literature, especially the period 1930–75, but they are treated as objects of mass mobilization for fighting against foreign troops and building a socialist state rather than the real focus of a literary text. More strikingly, it is revealed through novels and short stories that a long-enduring conflict between intellectual writers and peasants existed through different periods of social development.

    This chapter will examine how the issues of nation and class are interrelated in the characterization of Vietnamese peasants. It begins with the emergence and development of peasant characters in Vietnamese literature until the end of the Vietnam War in 1975. Then it discusses changes and continuity in the depiction of peasants in the post-war literature and examine factors that enabled those changes.

    1. The Emergence and Development of Peasants in Vietnamese Literature

    Traditional Vietnamese society was made up of four classes: si (scholars), nong (peasants), cong (artisans), and thuong (merchants). However, the two main classes were scholars and peasants due to the fact that the development of trade and commerce was limited. As si (scholars) were ranked the highest and most prestigious, it is not surprising that the dream of most male peasants was to pass the government examination to become mandarins or scholar officials.

  • Introduction: Social Inequality in a Socialist State

  • Edited by Philip Taylor
  • Book:
    Social Inequality in Vietnam and the Challenges to Reform
    Published by:
    ISEAS–Yusof Ishak Institute
    Published online:
    21 October 2015
    Print publication:
    23 November 2004, pp 1-40

  • Summary

    As one of the world's few states that remains nominally socialist, Vietnam is today caught up in a set of profound changes. These changes are reshaping its society in a manner that the expounders of this nineteenth century doctrine and the founders of the twentieth century states who drew upon it for inspiration could scarcely have imagined. At the forefront of such changes has been the opening up of a substantial role for private economic interests, the intensification of commerce and integration with the global capitalist economy. Political institutions from the National Assembly to mass organizations such as the Farmer's Association have had to contend with the decentralization of the economic landscape and now serve as venues for the voicing of evermore diverse social interests. The media holds up a mirror to an increasingly pluralist society, and emerging civil society groupings, sectoral interests, and localist emphases have dragged the initiative for setting political and economic priorities away from the bureaucracy and the country's sole political party. The society has become more urbanized, the popularization of technologies such as motorbikes, the Internet, and mobile phones has transformed the way people communicate with each other. A flow of human movements both within the country and across borders has refigured people's relationships to place and home. The growing importance of particularist cultural, ethnic, and religious affiliations, both new and reaffirmed, gives voice to the complexity and dissonance of Vietnamese people's temporal and spatial experiences and to the tensions and divisions that have opened up within their society.

    This book is about one of the most challenging of these changes in reform-era Vietnam, the emergence of social inequalities. Social inequality refers to differences between people in their material well-being, their social position, cultural standing, or ability to influence others. It also refers to disparities in people's ability to ensure that they have a better future and that their children are secure, healthy, and have viable livelihoods.

  • Session I - An Overview of Community Building in ASEAN

  • from THE ASEAN COMMUNITY ROUNDTABLE: Report compiled by Denis Hew, Chin Kin Wah and Lee Hock Guan
  • Book:
    Towards Realizing an ASEAN Community. A Brief Report on the ASEAN Community Roundtable
    Published by:
    ISEAS–Yusof Ishak Institute
    Published online:
    04 November 2017
    Print publication:
    19 November 2004, pp 1-8

  • Summary

    This Opening Session addressed three important issues for ASEAN as it works towards building an ASEAN Community. The issues related to the points raised by the ASEAN Secretary-General during his Opening Address:

  • First, is the question of establishing ASEAN as a legal entity. In this regard, an issue that needs to be addressed is whether ASEAN should have a Charter. So far, member countries do not have a statute in their respective national laws to allow for a legal entity called ASEAN. Nonetheless, there is growing recognition among members of the need to address ASEAN's legal status since representation of the association at the United Nations (UN) has been problematic. This issue is now being deliberated at the ASEAN ministerial meetings.

  • Second, is the issue of financial contributions for ASEAN projects. Given the expansion in ASEAN's activities across many areas, member states need to think about increasing the budget for the association. This is particularly crucial given the fact that ASEAN's dialogue partners no longer want to continue with the current arrangement of sole funding for ASEAN projects, and have called instead for cofunding to be a standard feature in future projects. In this regard, there are ongoing discussions regarding the possibility of increasing the financial contributions of more developed ASEAN economies to improve the financial standing of the association.

  • Third, is the need to enlarge the constituencies to build a meaningful ASEAN community. The ASEAN Secretariat is encouraging academics and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to contribute to ASEAN community building so that it is not monopolized by ASEAN bureaucrats (especially in the foreign ministries). This would include greater public articulation by academics and NGOs — through the media and other means — about ASEAN community building.

    • The discussions that followed picked up on the points raised by the Secretary-General. With regard to addressing the legal status of ASEAN, a point was made on the need for ASEAN to have a combination of stronger treaty obligations documents accompanied by the existing “soft” law practices (viz. declarations, statements and joint announcements). In particular, the “harder” law treaty options are required if ASEAN were to establish a Charter to give the association the international standing it requires.

  • Session III - The ASEAN Economic Community

  • from THE ASEAN COMMUNITY ROUNDTABLE: Report compiled by Denis Hew, Chin Kin Wah and Lee Hock Guan
  • Book:
    Towards Realizing an ASEAN Community. A Brief Report on the ASEAN Community Roundtable
    Published by:
    ISEAS–Yusof Ishak Institute
    Published online:
    04 November 2017
    Print publication:
    19 November 2004, pp 12-15

  • Summary

    This session focused on three main issues:

  • The challenges of deeper economic integration to realize the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC).

  • Bridging the economic divide between the ASEAN-6 and the less developed member countries, namely Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam (CLMV).

  • Greater private sector participation on the implementation of the AEC.

    • Salient issues and proposals with regard to economic integration were as follows:

  • (i) From the Bali Concord II, it was clearly evident that ASEAN leaders were not prepared to establish supranational institutions to co-ordinate economic activities in the region. ASEAN appeared to want the benefits of European-style economic integration without the concomitant commitments. In this light, ASEAN could consider using the NAFTA model where there were legally binding agreements to ensure the successful implementation of economic measures.

  • (ii) ASEAN should not be using economic terms like a “single market” (Bali Concord II, para. B.3) without understanding its full economic implications. Even AFTA was not about free trade on all goods and services — it was just fifteen commodity groups, while non-tarriff barriers (NTBs) had yet to be tackled.

  • (iii) ASEAN countries were not prepared to harmonize tariffs and have a common external tariff policy (as required of a customs union). Consequently, this has led to difficulties in ASEAN's FTA negotiations with China, Japan and India.

  • (iv) ASEAN had agreed to a sectoral approach to economic integration — as reflected in the eleven priority sectors identified by the High-Level Task Force (HLTF). However, the road map to integrate these sectors were not carefully thought out and there were serious concerns whether this project would be successful. The ASEAN Secretary-General had made a request to the ASEAN Economic Ministers (AEM) to keep the road map open-ended to allow for further measures to be introduced at a later stage (when a proper study had been undertaken).

  • (v) To create an integrated ASEAN market, hindrances to the movement of goods must be removed. This would, inter alia, involve improved customs co-ordination and the harmonization of standards and technical regulations.

Page 664 of 798