ABSTRACT
This chapter describes the historical precedents of Vietnamese social organization, which plays a significant role in bracketing the development of civil society. It discusses how civil society has adapted itself to Vietnam and how Vietnam is adapting to the evolution of civil society. Within the current institutional framework, mass organizations such as Vietnam Union of Science and Technology Associations (VUSTA) or Vietnam Union of Literature and Arts Associations, as well as some government agencies such as the institutes and universities, have set up many professional research/training centres. VUSTA is an umbrella organization comprising four elements: the central organization, member professional associations, province-level unions, as well as research centres and institutes registered under VUSTA. With the market reforms initiated in the mid-1980s, a new socio-economic environment emerged that was more conducive to the development of civil society organizations and to the renegotiation of existing associational ties.
