Introduction

This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book examines four main perspectives on reform: macro-economic; sectoral; gender; and science, technology and environment. The Soviet Union and Eastern European states have adopted the notion that political reform is of initial primary importance. Vietnam's economic reform process has been accompanied by numerous legal-political-social reforms. In contrast, Vietnam's foreign trade sector quickly overcame what appeared to be a formidable shock when the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance (CMEA) trading bloc was dissolved. The reforms are contrasted to the system that existed before, the command economy or Democratic Republic of Vietnam (DRV) model, a terminology accepted by many western analysts and increasingly by Vietnamese researchers. Hoang Kim Giao and Hoang Vu Cuong, both economists at the Institute of Economics in Hanoi, contribute their article, Vietnam's Private Economy in the Process of Renovation.