Government. Vietnam is a socialist republic with a government that includes an elected legislature, the national assembly, a president as head of state, and a prime minister as head of government. However, real political power lies with the Vietnamese Communist Party. Party members hold virtually all executive and administrative positions in the government. The party’s Fatherland Front determines which candidates can run in elections and its politburo sets the guidelines for all major governmental policy initiatives. The most powerful position in the country is the Communist Party general secretary. Other important positions are the prime minister, the president, the minister of public security, and the chief of the armed forces. Women and members of Vietnam’s ethnic groups are nominally represented in the government. One of the most sensitive issues the government faces is balancing regional interests.
Leadership and Political Officials. The Communist Party pressures its members to serve as examples of political virtue. The image they employ as their ideal leader is Ho Chi Minh. Ho was a devoted revolutionary who lived a life of simplicity, avoided corruption, behaved in a fair and egalitarian manner, and put the nation and revolution above his own personal interests. Party members and others often invoke the numerous moral adages coined by Ho during his life as a benchmark for social and political morality. Ho’s popularity is greatest in the north. Residents of other regions sometimes have more ambivalent feelings about him.
Local political officials often are caught between two conflicting sets of expectations regarding their behavior. As party members, they are exhorted to follow the official line and disregard their own interests, but relatives and members of their communities often expect them to use their positions to their advantage; thus nepotism and localism are, at one level, culturally sanctioned. Officials must balance these two sets of demands, as moving too far in one direction can lead to criticism from the other.
The Vietnamese revolution eliminated the extremely in egalitarian forms of interaction such as kowtowing or hierarchical terms of address that had existed between commoners and officials. Most Vietnamese address officials with respectful kinship terms, such as “older brother” ( anh ) or “grandfather” ( ong ), or in rare cases as “comrade” ( dong chi ). Events in the late 1990s, notably several uprisings in rural areas in 1997, have demonstrated that the people’s respect for the party and its officials has declined, largely as a result of the highhandedness and corruption of many officials. However, significant alternative political movements have not emerged.
Social Problems and Control. Vietnam has enjoyed a large measure of stability since the late 1970s, but its government today faces a number of significant social problems. Its greatest concern has been unrest in rural areas brought on by official malfeasance and land disputes. The government is also concerned about relations with religious groups in the south, particularly Catholics, Cao Dai, and Hoa Hao, who have demonstrated against the government since the 1990s. Another source of concern is smuggling and the production of counterfeit commodities. Three problems that have increased dramatically in urban areas during the 1990s have been theft, prostitution, and drug abuse. Many who engage in the latter two activities are often from the poorest segments of the population. Official corruption associated with the drug trade and sex industry is another significant problem.
Vietnam has a legal system supported by a police force, a judicial and a security system.
Military Activity. The People’s Army of Vietnam has roughly 484,000 active members with three to four million in the reserves. Over the past decade the military has cut its forces considerably, though recent estimates are that military expenditures constitute an amount equivalent to approximately 9 percent of the GDP ($650 million). Since its withdrawal from Cambodia in 1989, the military has not been engaged in any large-scale conflicts, but its forces have been involved in numerous small skirmishes with the Chinese and Cambodians over border disputes.