Interviews at the Ministry of the Interior, Hanoi 2000 - Discourses on Political Reform and Democratization in East and Southeast Asia in the Light of New Processes of Regional Community-Building, 2002, 20

by Raszelenberg, Patrick

In a series of talks at the Vietnamese Ministry of the Interior in the summer of 2000, the author asked a number of middle and higher ranking political cadres about the current situati-on in Vietnam, the country's prospects for the future, and the state of political discourse in light of Vietnam's transition toward an open society. Still caught up in a world of terms past and concepts forgotten, these cadres nonetheless argue that neither the Party's performance legitimacy nor the widening of political discourse inside the country will have a decisive impact on Vietnam or its populace but that organic develop-ment and social stability remain prime issues in light of the country's attempt to catch up with a world it had been isolated from over decades.