ABSTRACT
During the time that I lived in Vietnam, there were several major historical events that took place that I was grateful to observe and which gave me a greater insight into the complex processes which I yearn to better understand. In 2005 I witnessed two relatively long and productive National Assembly, or legislative sessions, as well as the tenth National Party Congress which occurs only once every five years and which resulted in Vietnam’s legislature electing a new Prime Minister, President, and National Assembly Chairman. In 2006, the Vietnamese Government hosted the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) conference for the first time, hosted by US President George W. Bush and 20 other world leaders, and concluded over 11 years of negotiations to make Vietnam the one hundred and fiftieth member of the World Trade Organization. In 2007, Vietnamese officials successfully concluded a Bilateral Market Access Agreement with the US. Amongst many other achievements, in 2008 Vietnam took a seat as a non-permanent member on the UN Security Council. There have been many developments in Vietnam since I moved there in the spring of 2005 and there continue to be daily transformations to Vietnam’s society and economy. The most obvious changes are structural and can be viewed by anyone who lives in Vietnam or who simply visits the country for a few weeks. Despite the seemingly rapid transformation that the nation is undergoing, particularly in urban areas, there continue to be legacies of the war including tons of unexploded ordnance that threatens lives daily, there are constant complaints about the outdated education system, and while progress is being made, citizenship rights are still limited. Vietnam continues to be ruled by only one party, the Communist Party of Vietnam, and although the authority of the National Assembly and mass organizations are said to be increasing, the Party leaders make the rules and decide at what pace the country will develop. The Party is most easily understood as an umbrella organization that oversees how the Government, consisting of various ministries, responds to problems of the past such as landmines and unexploded ordnance, present problems like AI, and problems of the near future like transforming the education sector. It is these issues that will be explored in the following pages in order to understand how political decisions are made in Vietnam at the highest levels of government.
