ABSTRACT
These final pages will address the issue of changing rules and values especially given increasing economic development in Vietnam and the possibility of political change. It will also discuss what I see as the official role of both the Communist Party of Vietnam and the people. In this book I have made the argument that Vietnam’s perceived history of threat and life under a subsidy economy influences the way in which current day political leaders make national level decisions. Because of the many years in which Vietnamese citizens lived under colonial rule, under foreign invasion, and in a poor, substandard economic state, political and economic stability are of utmost importance to both Party leaders and common citizens. Additionally, the Vietnamese emphasis on independence and the need to protect the homeland is demonstrated in high school text books, through defense education and emulation programs, is highlighted in official laws and political documents, and is stressed within mass organizations. The glory of national independence is often recalled in a famous poem by Phan Trọng Bình.
