Rethinking Asian Capitalism and Society in the 21st Century

Conference

A comparative overview on 30 years of Vietnam’s achievements under Doi Moi and Challenges ahead
 

7-8 November 2019

the Southern Institute of Social Sciences (SISS)
Ho Chi Minh Ville - Vietnam

This conference is the result of a fruitful scientific partnership between the Institute of Research on Contemporary Southeast Asia (IRASEC) and two major academic institutions in Vietnam : the Southern Institute of Social Sciences (SISS) and the Ho Chi Minh City Open University (HCMCOU).

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The idea of such a conference emerged in commemoration process of the fall of the Berlin Wall in 2019. The late 20th century was a time of major geopolitical upheaval in the world. The fall of the Berlin Wall in November 9, 1989 put an end to the Cold War and its divisions, which dated back to the Second World War. The collapse of the Communist bloc brought about the end of a bipolar world built around the rivalry between the United States and the Soviet Union. Economic and military structures such as Comecon (the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance) and the Warsaw Pact were dissolved in 1991. The events of the late 1980s also accelerated the path towards German reunification and a new round in the construction of the European Union.

In Asia, the year 1989 did not mark a historical “turning point” as it was in Europe. The communist countries of Asia, with the exception of North Korea, did not collapse by embarking in an unprecedented step in the history of world communism. Their economies were passing through the initial phases of transition from centrally planned to “socialist market” economies, which closely associate economic reforms with an “open door” policy on the model initiated by Deng Xiao Ping in China. Vietnam in particular, implemented the system of central planning during 1975-1985 after decades of devastating wars. However, in the wake of the economic system’s failure, the Vietnamese government then embarked on a policy of “Renewal” (Doi Moi).

Thirty years after the fall of the Berlin Wall, the transitional economies of Asia are on different paths than their counterparts in Europe and yet, facing similar challenges. Turning to the Asian region first by joining the “enemy” alliance initially anti-communist, ASEAN in 1995 and later by joining APEC in 1998, Vietnam and its neighbors in Southeast Asia (Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar) have followed their own path to achieve a favorable economic outlook : highest GDP growth rates, alleviation of extreme poverty, acceleration of regional integration, progress in global business environment rankings (Doing Business of the World Bank, Eurocham Business Climate Index of the European Chamber of Commerce, ASEAN SME Policy Index of OECD) or in the country profiles using data from the OECD-WTO database on Trade in Value Added (TiVA). In addition to practically making Asia the only part of the world where the socialist regime remains, the historical “moment” of 1989 has opened up new perspectives for the organization of a world in which Asia, communist or not, plays a growing and determining role.[1] What the World Bank had defined in 1993 as an “East Asian Miracle”[2] initially led by Japan and the dragons (South Korea, Hong Kong, Singapore, Taiwan), has now being structured around China to draw a new path (even a “model”) of development in the region.

Since 1986, Vietnam has gone through a far reaching transformation from an inward looking planned economy to one that is globalized and market-based. Being the third most populous member country of ASEAN with 96 million inhabitants in 2018, Vietnam has become the 6^th largest economy in the region. Behind the story, integration in the world economy has been the key driver of Vietnam’s economic and social outstanding outcomes. The country formally completed World Trade Organization (WTO) accession in late 2006, culminating a long process of efforts to integrate the national economy into global markets. It is clear that since the implementation of Doi Moi in 1986, Vietnam has resisted both the collapse of the Soviet bloc and international sanctions (the US embargo was only lifted in 1994). In 2018, the country recorded its highest growth rate (nearly 7%) since 2011. Spurred by a policy of rapid liberalization, economic modernization has also enabled the country to cope with a series of domestic and external shocks : macroeconomic instabilities, the economic and financial market crisis of 1997 in East Asia, the global crisis of 2008. This economic vitality opens up new perspectives and allows Vietnam to play a growing and decisive role in the region through a multilateral policy in which East Asia has its rightful place.[3]

The country is now entering a new phase of national development and has a set-up objective to become a modern and industrialised economy by 2020. Yet, significant gaps remain in renewing abilities to meet the needs of a modern economy, and to promote proactive international integration in order to address global as well as national challenges.

To make the best possible decisions for the future, it is therefore important to take stock of what has been achieved to date, while considering future issues in a regional and comparative perspective. In 2019, Vietnam is developing more than ever a political, economic and strategic multilateralism, in the context of global instability. At the beginning of the 21^st century, it is important, through the Vietnamese Doi Moi experience, to rethink Asian capitalism by deploying a multidisciplinary approach.

Organizing the conference together in Ho Chi Minh City to approach capitalism from an Asian perspective seems to us particularly relevant. The aim of this conference is, on the one hand, to highlight the specificities of transition trajectories in Asia and on the other hand, to identify the main challenges facing Vietnam and other countries in the region. The conference will discuss the challenges of Asian Capitalism and Society in many different country contexts, by crossing various disciplines in social sciences. Indeed, it is the matter of joining together the perspectives of global history, comparative economics, and micro studies from below. As in the decades ahead, Asian countries will have to face major new challenges and large-scale requirements on the socio-economic, societal, geopolitical and environmental grounds, an important goal of the conference is to identify avenues for addressing some of them.

We hope that this conference will provide better understanding of the Asian trajectories and the legacies of former socioeconomic systems in their future paths.