ABSTRACT
This chapter attempts to make light of the heterogeneous conceptualizations of civil society in Vietnam by academics, representatives of organizations, and policymakers. It begins with an initial linguistic analysis of civil society terminology and its embeddedness in various narratives of Vietnamese social history. The chapter explores discourse analysis of conceptions and contributions to civil society from international and Vietnamese sources. The civil society discourse in Vietnam traverses the pre-modern, a society based on vernacular understandings, through socialism, to a modern orientation on civil society including touches of democratization. In this regard, for the state, which is strategically interested in reinforcing its grip on society, civil society presents both opportunities and risks. The state has two broad approaches for getting the most out of civil society: structural dominance and accommodation. According to the accommodating state approach, there is a constant interaction that takes shape through resistance or coercion between residents, local officials and the party-state.
