vietnam

[Bastable]

could anyone who is up to date with the situation in Vietnam please tell me, or direct me to a good source concerning it. basically the political situation, economics, how popular the government is and the like.

thanks in advance

[The Red Scare]

I lived in Vietnam for four months in 2005. It's basically about a decade behind China in implementing capitalist reforms. The economy is growing fast, but its leaving a lot of people, especially those living in rural areas, behind. Most of the economy is still publicly owned, but I fear that soon the country will be socialist in name only.

It's hard for me to say how 'popular' the government is currently. While many people are fiercely nationalistic and recognize the tremendous improvements that Ho Chi Minh and the Communist Party brought to the country in terms of improving living standards, bringing about land reform, and improving healthcare and education, most of the people I met weren't very politically-minded. There didn't seem to be much of a revolutionary culture there.

Sadly, I am rather pessimistic about the future of the socialist project in Vietnam.

[Axel1917]

I am not too familiar with the current situation in Vietnam, but a direction toward capitalism by the bureaucracy is taking place. For example, The Economist carried an article about the bursting of Vietnam's first stock market bubble in the April 5th-11th of 2008 issue. I have read that credit card logos are even carried on some banners and the like in celebrations as well.

[Bastable]

How sad, it's as though the whole Vietnam war was for nothing in the end...

Thanks for the update, greatly appreciated