State and virtue in economic growth - The case of Vietnam

The article asks three questions: 1) What has been the role of the state in Vietnam's economic growth since 1986? 2) Will the state in its current form contribute to or impede continued economic growth? 3) Can we draw some general conclusions from the Vietnamese case about conceptual approaches to the role of the state in economic growth? The answer to the first question is that the state has played a significant role by allowing entrepreneurial initiatives from below ('fence-breaking'), attracting foreign investments, and instituting successful macro-economic control mechanisms. The answer to the second question is that the state in its current form, with its combination of a market economy and a privileged state sector, provides for marketisation of the state itself, i.e., rampant corruption. This will probably impede European and American investments and will also undermine the virtue of the Vietnamese state-and-society, but if sufficient investments are obtained from well-connected Asian sources, and there is enough competition between companies within the state, it is possible that growth can continue anyway at a rapid pace. The answers suggested to the third question are that in order to understand the role of the state, we must 'unpack it', look at various state institutions; stop assuming a clear dividing line between 'state' and 'society' or 'state' and 'market'; and that we must pay close attention to how the state is operating as a competitive actor in the global market-place.