Democracy possesses many commonly held values of humankind, however thedevelopment process of democracy differs from country to country,exhibiting particular characteristics shaped by specific historicalcircumstances, according to a Vietnamese social scientist.
Associate Professor-PhD of Social Science Nguyen An Ninh writes that inVietnam , democracy boasts typical characteristics that made thecountry’s regime different from others.
Firstly, the currentsocialist democratic regime in Vietnam is the first ever democraticregime in the country’s political history.
The Declaration ofIndependence for the Democratic Republic of Vietnam read by President HoChi Minh in Hanoi on September 2, 1945 marked the very start ofVietnam ’s first democratic regime.
Previously, Vietnam ’ssocio-political and economic life was ruled over by feudal, semi-feudaland colonial systems for many centuries.
The prominent feature ofthese systems was that the people had no right to participate in thecountry’s political life, let alone impose their will and aspirationsupon the governing administrations’ political structures.
Therefore, there were few or even no mechanisms established forimplementing democracy. A person’s fate as well as his/her rights andobligations depended on the society, the community or the crowd.
Atthat time, the development of socio-political life was often dependenton the virtue, ethics and capability of one single man – the king – whohad been placed on the pinnacle of power in the absence of a people’selection. And, this situation happened for thousands of years untilSeptember 2, 1945.
Vietnam ’s first democratic regime was bornduring the national liberation revolution and it was the fruit of theentire people’s struggle for liberation under the leadership of acommunist party.
This first democratic regime brought to the Vietnamese people the most fundamental human rights, including the right to live.
Weshould remember that even the right to live, which is the first andmost fundamental right of humans, had been threatened and stolen in afamine triggered by Japanese fascists in 1945 which claimed the lives ofnearly 2 million people, or one tenth of Vietnam ’s population atthe time.
The new regime also gave the people the right to be acitizen of an independent and free country, the right to participate inthe country’s political life, and other rights and interests.
Theserights were stringently enforced from the very first day of the newregime. The first general election was organised successfully withinseveral months of the day on which the Declaration of Independence wasproudly announced.
Secondly, Vietnam ’s first democraticregime had its roots in a struggle to win and defend nationalindependence for which generations of Vietnamese people had contributednot only their brainpower but also their blood. This regime was notestablished through a democratic parliament as in many countries in theworld.
The reality of Vietnam ’s political history in the 20th century showed that only when a country is free and independent, canits people enjoy democracy and society become republican.
Throughoutthe 20 th century, the Vietnamese people undertook to defend theirnational independence, along with building and developing democracy.
Duringthe course of time, generations of Vietnamese people understood thatthe most important thing was national independence and freedom.
President Ho Chi Minh used to say that “nothing is more precious than independence and freedom”.
Thatis the reason why Vietnam has built its concepts on citizens’rights and obligations, as well as institutional tools and mechanisms toimplement democracy around this philosophy.
In many cases, thecountry viewed national independence and freedom as the same asdemocracy and equality in the meaning of the right to exist and developlike other nations.
In that sense, Vietnam could gain freedomand democracy only when it was in peace, unified and independent andits people freed from slave status.
Therefore, Vietnam ’sadoption of a socialist democratic regime aimed to exercise the right toexist and develop like other nations around the world.
Thirdly, the socialist democratic regime was the evolvement of democracy at a higher degree.
Lookingback to the historical background where Vietnam began the course ofbuilding and developing democracy, it can be seen that we must workharder and harder in order to thoroughly capture the nature of socialistdemocracy.
It is inevitable when there are things that areincomplete or fail to match the ideal standards in the first democraticregime in a country where no democratic regime existed before.
Therefore, it is easy to identify and explain the incomplete features of the current democracy in Vietnam .
Vietnam has been undertaking the building of its socialistdemocratic regime in the context of a tiny, underdeveloped economy afterenduring wars to defend national independence and reunification fordozens of years and dealing with several socio-economic structuralupheavals.
In such circumstances it is clear that Vietnam hasnot yet developed a perfect democracy, so it is making efforts tonarrow the gaps between reality and the goals it has set.
However,it is noticeable that though still under construction, the socialistdemocratic regime in Vietnam has brought into full play itspre-eminent characteristics.
The regime has stood side by sidewith the nation in the struggle for national independence, freedom andreunification and contributed significantly to the socio-economicdevelopment strides Vietnam has made in its journey of renewal.
Theeconomic and socio-political backgrounds of this socialist democraticregime have laid the foundation for Vietnam to advance toward ajust, democratic and civilised society and ensured the fundamental humanrights for its citizens.
Obviously, problems arise in the course of developing democracy in Vietnam .
Suchproblems as bureaucracy, corruption and power-driven depravity wereinevitable and common, as they have been found in almost all moderndemocratic regimes in the world. They also had subjective causes thatcame from the process of building democracy.
However, based on awell-constructed foundation, the house of democracy, though messy withthe litter of construction work, has astonishingly bright prospects.
Fourthly,the principle of democracy ruled only by a single governing classthrough its political party matches Vietnam ’s developmental process.
Proceedingfrom the view that the core and the nature of the development ofdemocracy in Vietnam was that power belongs to the people, with thefirst and fundamental value being economic rights, Vietnam has givenimportance to promoting economic development and ensuring advancementand fairness in the field.
The country has also realised that itneeded to concentrate on mobilising all available resources as well aspolitical will for accomplishing its big goals, such as winningindependence and freedom or spurring socio-economic development.
In this case, the principle of a single, strongly focused political party seems to be the most suitable solution to Vietnam .
Inits very essence, this is a condition for deploying democracy as itdemonstrates the centralised nature of the democratic regime. In anydemocratic regime, the manifestation of the centralised nature isreflected in its adoption of a constitution and laws in order to serveits operation.
Under the communist party’s leadership, Vietnam has given the top priority to promoting democracy in the economic field.
Inthe past national democratic revolution, farmers, who accounted for 90percent of the population, were provided with farming land thanks to thecommunist party’s land reform policy.
Recently, as the countryhas pursued a renewal policy, the people have been given favourableconditions to exercise their right to do business in a multi-sectoraleconomy operating under socialist-oriented market mechanisms.
Thanksto these efforts, Vietnam has weathered the critical economiccrisis in late 1980s. Not only with that, the country’s production hasgrown robustly and the people’s living conditions have improvedremarkably.
Achieving an economic growth along with ensuringsocial advancement and equality has become the Communist Party ofVietnam’s consistent policy in spurring socio-economic development.
With that policy, a series of fundamental rights of democracy have been exercised in Vietnam .
Thepeople have enjoyed the right to be in pursuit of prosperity andhappiness and benefit entirely from the fruits of their labour.
Societyhas grown in a dynamic and positive manner toward fairness, democracyand civilisation. It has accepted social differences as long as thesedifferences have not been against the nation’s common interests andcared for all members of society in terms of developmental chances andbenefits they could have.
An important thing worthy to be notedhere was that coupled with robust socio-economic growth, the renewalprocess and the transformation of economic mechanisms in Vietnam hasbeen taking place in the context of socio-political stability – a statethat not all countries undertaking renovation and reforms have been ableto enjoy.
After carefully studying these issues, it can be notedthat developing democracy based on the principle of a single party is aperfect fit with reality in Vietnam .
And neither is this method an exception in the region or the world.
Inrecent decades, the newly-industrialised countries and territories,which are named as “the Dragons of Asia”, such as Singapore , Taiwan ,and the Republic of Korea , have all relied on similar politicalplatforms to produce “magical” gains in their socio-economic status aswell as in the promotion of democracy.
However, it is obvious that there is always another side of the coin in democracy promotion.
The Communist Party of Vietnam has clearly noticed threats of depravity and degradation inside its socialist democracy.
Theacts of violation of democracy, bureaucratic bungling, corruption, andalienation from the people have occurred and cascaded into negativeimpacts on the evolvement of democracy.
In its leadershipcapacity, the Communist Party of Vietnam has frankly admitted theseproblems and showed its resolve to address them.
Here, the peoplehave exercised their right to mastery and implemented democracy tocontribute largely to successes in the battle against corruption andbureaucracy, and democratic violation.
The people have helped to bring to light many cases of corruption and degradation committed by State officials.
This exposure should be regarded as a major achievement for Vietnam in promoting democracy.
Fifthly,the process of developing democracy in Vietnam has been embraced bythe entire political system and people from all walks of life.
Thischaracteristic is particularly unique in comparison to the developmentof democracy in some other countries during their “colour revolutions”over several recent decades.
In those countries, democracypromotion has often occurred inside only a part of political system,reflecting mainly in the transfer of power from one political group toanother political group.
In Vietnam , the difference has beennoticeable, since democracy promotion has taken place in parallel atboth macro and micro levels and from the central to the grassroots andvice versa, thus making a comprehensive and deep-reaching movement.
TheCommunist Party of Vietnam is the initiator of policies and guidelinespertaining to democratisation of socio-political life in Vietnam .
Withthat key social responsibility, renewing the content and operationalmethods of the entire political system has been crucial with the focuson renewing the Party’s leadership of the State, and stepping updemocratisation in the Party, administrative reforms in the State, andreforms in the judiciary sector. This plan has been made specific withthe support of policies, ordinances and laws.
Coupled with that,supervision and social feedback by political organisations like theNational Assembly and the Fatherland Front has been accelerated toensure the correctness and conformity of the process of democratisation,thus gaining the people’s backing for related political decisions.
Manyplans and policies issued by the Party and State have been publicisedfor the purpose of gathering the people’s comments via surveys, polls orthe mass media.
Such social participation and examination havenurtured the formation of a developmental trend from the grassrootslevel that has contributed greatly to democracy promotion.
Itcan be seen that in many cases, movements made from the grassroots leveland specific approaches taken by each locality to meet its needs havehelped promote democratisation in Vietnam . This has been noticeable,especially during the renovation process.
Such movements havebeen called by various names, such as “xe rao” (breaking the line),“bung ra” (busting), or “khoan chui” (unofficial piecework assignment).
Theseacts have reflected the strong proactive spirit in political and socialfronts although they were outside regulations and mismatched with thelegal framework at the time.
They have been seen as responses of democracy and represented requirements of reality at the grassroots level.
It is noted that in dealing with these movements, the central government has shown respect and a democratic attitude.
Thoughmaking several adjustments, the central government has allowed thesemovements to occur on a trial basis to help in drawing lessons forfuture improvements.
Later, many active movements made at thegrassroots level have been recognised and have contributed to shaping anational renewal plan for the country.
In time, the “central tograssroots and vice versa” trends merged and incorporated into a drivingforce to boost the promotion of democracy.
Learning from theexperiences of this work, Vietnam stipulated regulations ongrassroots democracy in 1998 and developed it into an ordinance in 2007.
The move has been acknowledged by international friends as creative and suitable for promoting democracy.
Thecharacteristics presented above have reflected particular features anddifferences and shaped Vietnam ’s own approaches to the promotion ofdemocracy.
Accepting and respecting differences is also aprinciple of modern democracy. Perhaps with its own uniquecharacteristic features, Vietnam may make active contributions tothe commonwealth of humankind’s democracy.
In his article, PhDNguyen An Ninh also notes that apart from developing democracy basedon its own characteristics, Vietnam has proactively learnt and appliedcreatively many democratic values of humankind to further perfect itsown democracy.
The socialist regime in Vietnam has held high and adhered to the principle of democratos – power belonging to the people.
This was the revolutionary goal that Ho Chi Minh defined as early as in 1925.
ThePresident said, “We have sacrificed our lives for revolution – weshould pursue it to the end. After the revolution is won, power shouldbe handed over to the majority of people, don’t leave it in the hands ofthe minority. So, more sacrifices need not to be made and the peoplecan enjoy happiness”.
That principle has been interpreted intoreality with the establishment of the State power system whose personnelare elected, and responsibilities and rights are set, by the people.
Therights and obligation of citizens (including the rights to election,supervision and dismissal of State agencies) have been prescribedclearly in the constitution and practised in reality.
Thecountry’s big decisions have been made by the National Assembly, whichis the most powerful agency representing the people’s will.
Vietnam has also inherited a number of principles of managingdemocracy, including general elections, the principle of centraliseddemocracy, the supreme role of constitution and laws in social life, andthe implementation of representative democracy in combination withdirect democracy.
In building a socialist law-governed Stateof the people, by the people and for the people, the unity of Statepower is based on the assignment and coordination in performing threerights: legislation, execution and justice, under the leadership of theCommunist Party. This can be considered a combination of humankindvalues and a creative application to Vietnam ’s specific conditions.This is an inheritance of organisational experience, structure andfunctions of the three most important parts of the State, plus theprinciple that the highest power belongs to the people.
It couldbe understood that unity is the foundation while the assignment andcoordination are methods of achieving unified State power. The Party’sleadership also aims to ensure smooth coordination and strict adherenceto the Constitution and law.
Building asocialist law-governed State of the people, by the people and for thepeople is a basic way of promoting the people’s right to mastery andguaranteeing that the State’s power belongs to the people.
TheState’s power is defined by the Constitution and laws. The State managessociety with the law and promotes the rights of all people andcitizens. The State strengthens the legal system and deals with allviolations of the law in a strict and fair manner in order to protectthe rights to democracy and freedom and the legitimate interests ofcitizens, to prevent the abuse of power of State agencies and employees,to preclude the abuse of democracy and indiscipline, thus ensuring theefficiency of management operations.
Vietnam’s Constitution and laws also confirm citizens’ right to join inmanaging the State and society, discussing common issues for the wholenation and localities and making recommendations to State agencies.
Citizensof the Socialist Republic of Vietnam are guaranteed all fundamentalrights to freedom, including the rights to equality before the law, freeand fair elections, freedom of expression, freedom of the press,complaints and denouncements. Those rights to freedom are a foundationfor the people to inspect the State’s operations and are one of theimportant methods to implement democracy.
Caring for people,protecting legitimate rights and interests of all people; observing andperforming international conventions on human rights that Vietnam hasalready signed or joined in; renewing institutions, identifying theresponsibility of administrations at all levels, agencies, officials andState employees to deal with complainants and denouncements lodged bycitizens; implementing the regulations on democracy, expanding democracyat grassroots level and creating better conditions for the people toengage in managing society, discussing and deciding important areimportant contents in the enforcement of the Constitution and laws andthe development of democracy in Vietnam.
Thesocialist democratic regime in Vietnam also acknowledges thatsociety is unified in diversity, accepts and respects differences interms of class, ethnicity, religion and gender of communities.
Therights to equality and freedom of each community are prescribed andprotected by the law based on democratic principles: minority complieswith majority, but minority has the right to have and keep theirdifferences, providing that these differences do not go counter to thenation’s common interests; tolerance, cooperation and dialogue to dealwith differences, disputes and conflicts. “Taking the goal ofmaintaining national independence and unification and for a rich people,a strong country, an equitable, democratic, civilized society thecommon ground to unite compatriots from ethnic groups, religions and allwalks of life at home and overseas; abolishing all complexes,preconceptions and discriminations against the past and classes.Respecting different opinions that do not go counter to the nation’sinterests. Upholding the tradition of benevolence and tolerance andbuilding up a spirit of openness and mutual trust for politicalstability and social consensus.”
By acceptingand inheriting humankind’s democratic values, the process of renewal anddevelopment of democracy in Vietnam has achieved a lot ofsuccesses, thereby making many important contributions to the world. Forexample, the implementation of the Regulations on Grassroots Democracy(since 2007 the Ordinance on Grassroots Democracy) was evaluated as, “acreation in realising the principle of the people, by the people and forthe people in political reality” and “a scientific political movementin line with modern democracy”.
With a proactiveand positive participation in international and regional cooperation,the process of developing democracy in Vietnam proves that its natureincorporates democratic values of humankind and also through thisprocess Vietnam contributes greatly to democracy in the modernworld.
The author noted an outstandingphenomenon that many people discuss democracy and the development ofdemocracy in Vietnam . Besides constructive opinions, there are stilla lot of misunderstandings or calculated intentions.
Following are the most noteworthy cases:
Many people are impatient to speed up the process of democratisation regardless of objective conditions.
Thecause of renewal in Vietnam includes economic reforms andstep-by-step political reforms and both aspects are closely connectedand mutually supported.
Economic reforms focus on stepping up industrialisation and modernisation and building a socialist-oriented market economy.
Politicalreforms aims for the major goal of perfecting the political system tofoster the development of socialist democracy and focus on maintainingthe Party’s leadership, renewing the Party’s method of leadership;reforming the State’s administration, creating a socialist law-governedState of the people, by the people and for the people; upholdingcitizens’ proactive involvement in politics and the people’s right tomastery.
It is obvious that the process of renewal still has muchto be done and cannot be accomplished in a short time. Being aware ofthis, Vietnam has already defined a path and planned scientificallyand cautiously. Vietnam has also recorded a wide range of majorachievements of historical significance during the renewal process.
However, a number of people have yet to recognise or intentionallyignore this fact, and want to speed up the process regardless ofconditions. Sometimes, their impatience makes them contradictthemselves: although they do not recognise Vietnam ’s market economythey still desire to use it as a lever to promote democracy. They wantto accelerate political reforms but at them same time purposefullycreate instability such as issues related to human rights, religion andethnic minorities, to hamper Vietnam’s comprehensive reforms.
Many people try to explain the incomplete status of democracy in Vietnam with extreme and unfair interpretations.
Theobjective difficulties of a developing economy and the complicatedbackground of a society in the process of economic restructuring seem tobe intentionally ignored by a number of people and for them, the onlyproblem is democracy.
They are extreme to such an extent thatthey consider democratic development is only for “democracy”, not forgrowth combined with social progress and equality.
Democratisation in Vietnam does not have itself as a target butis aimed at stepping up industrialisation and modernisation for the goalof a rich people, a strong country, a democratic, equitable andcivilised society.
The development of democracy is aimed atcreating favourable conditions for socio-economic development. Only inthis way, can democracy play a positive role in the development of anation.
In addition, a number of people use thestatus of incomplete democracy in Vietnam as the reason behind everysocial issue.
In their opinion, the lack of democracy is blamedfor such issues as economic underdevelopment, incomplete exploitationof potential and advantages, social inequality, waste, red tape andcorruption. According to this interpretation, the settlement of thedemocratic issue would be a “magic wand” for Vietnam .
With this way of thought and argument, they would finally negate thesocialist democratic regime in Vietnam . Hence, outwardly they seemto make suggestions and discussions to promote the development ofdemocracy, but in fact it is a sabotage of democracy. And obviously,they would write out a prescription of Western-style democratisation.
While discussing this issue, many like to cite theUS democracy as a model. But few people debate how the USdemocracy is operating – is it absolutely perfect or does it haveshortcomings? Is the US political system really a pluralist systemand therefore, does it have a premise suitable to a democratic regime? Anumber of “pro-democracy” activists consider it as a starting point tocriticise singular politics, citing a lack of democratic foundations,arguing that pluralism builds democracy and is able to balance power andreduce the occurrence of arbitrary actions.
Outwardly, the US political arena seems to have quite a lot ofpolitical parties. However, in the country’s largest political activity –the presidential elections – there are only two bourgeois factionscalled the Democratic Party and the Republican Party in the final race.The class nature of the two parties is the same – that is the party ofthe bourgeois class, by the bourgeois class and for the bourgeois class.Noam Chomsky – a well-known researcher of US politics – once saidfrankly: “Nobody should have any illusions. The United States hasessentially a one-party system and the ruling party is the businessparty”. (In an interview with the German newspaper Der Spiegel onOctober 28, 2008.)
Why did Chomsky concludethat? If US parties want to run for and win the elections they do nothave to announce a better or a more convincing platform for democraticdevelopment. The issue lies in another place: it is the power of money.In the US , if you have little or no money, you should not thinkabout engaging in politics or democracy. The US electoral mechanismforces candidates to be a capitalist or a person who is backed bycapitalists. Candidates must have money to conduct election campaigns,entice voters and hire mass media such as TV and newspapers topopularize and polish up their images, and at the same time, to lowerand denigrate their rivals. You might not have enough money to engage insuch affairs but there will be sponsors – rich capitalist individualsor capitalist groups – who are ready to pay. However, after you win theelections, “you have to obey us”, you must promulgate policies whichbenefit the capitalists or the capitalist interest groups.
Money and power are usually connected and they look to each other forprofits, not for democracy. Of course, the loudest voice in US politicsremains the democratic principles and the implementation of theseprinciples. However, democracy in the US sometimes is considered abrand name or label for someone to engage in affairs other thandemocracy development. Barack Obama wrote in his book “The Audacity ofHope: Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream” that US democracyhas been divided and deviated by pluralism and a multiparty mechanism.This mechanism seems to pose challenges to the principles that haveserved as a firm foundation for the nation since its founding, when itproduces extreme variants and deviations in the political system.
Democracy. This word seems to delude many people into thinking thatpolitics can make democracy in the way bakers make bread. But if youwant to have bread you must have wheat flour first, the skills of abaker are not enough. Also in the above book, in his capacity as aninsider, Obama wrote that politics has become a business and not amission.
The so-called arguments are actually little better thanperformances. High-faluting words are used for immoral purposes and themost noble emotions could be sabotaged for power, schemes, rapacity andintolerance. Intolerant interests compete to gain the advantage, andminority groups try to impose their thoughts on the absolute truth. Fromthis view, we can understand the nature of that so-called democracyreally is.
Vietnam does not repudiate theintrinsic values of mankind contained in other democracies and is readyto adopt reasonable factors. However, reality suggests that not everydifference is new and not every new thing is reasonable.
In conclusion, researcher Nguyen An Ninh affirms that consistency tosocialism is an inherent demand of the development process of democracyin Vietnam
As its basic target, the socialist democracy has to perfect the democracy of the people, by the people and for the people.
Thisprocess’s typical character is that it sprang from the requirements ofeconomic development, and from the socio-political point of view – it isa process that involves the people’s proactive and voluntaryparticipation.
It takes the perfection of the socialist politicalsystem’s organisation and operation as a basic solution to uphold thepeople’s right to mastery.
Vietnam ’s method for development of democracy is to perfect and renew but not change the political regime.
The development of democracy in Vietnam is the continuation of therule, “National independence is closely associated with socialism”. Itis carried out under the leadership of the Communist Party of Vietnam,in the process of developing and perfecting the State’s nature “of thepeople, by the people and for the people”; in the period of renewing andimproving the organisation and mode of operation of the NationalAssembly of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam; and in upholding workingpeople’s right to mastery through mass organisations. It is realisedthrough numerous practical measures, typically the implementation of the“Ordinance of democracy at grass-roots level”.
Consistency to socialism in the process of democracy development inVietnam is not a “self-defensive reaction’ but a basic cause fordemocracy development. It is an inner logic of the socialist democraticregime in Vietnam .
The development of the socialist democracyat first originates from the demands of development and comprehensiverenewal, from the process of renovation and completion of the democracy,as well as from the lesson of making people the roots of society andthe democratic regime’s nature “of the people, by the people, for thepeople” in Vietnam.
This nature has been proven many times in therenewal process through people’s diversified creativeness. Vietnam’s experience is drawn from the renovation process: “Take the people forthe roots” and “The renovation should be based on the people” is areflection of this logic.
The development of socialistdemocracy in Vietnam is an inner process. This was defined by threebasic driving forces that are giving impetus to the process: Firstly,the interest and a basic unity of interests between subjects of thesocialist democracy serves as a core impetus to Vietnam ’sdevelopment of democracy.
The hub of this issue is thatVietnam has found a proper solution to its own unique circumstances:providing an opportunity for development and increasing the ability tochoose an opportunity for all classes of people is the specificcharacter of the solution to harmonise all interests in thesocialist-oriented market economy.
The working class’s interestis identical with the whole nation’s interest in the target of “Awealthy people, a strong country, and an equal, democratic and civilisedsociety, making a great unanimity in the society”, thus helping create ageneral consensus in the society.
In addition, theacceptance of differences of among social interest groups and theestablishment of fairness during the process of implementing theseinterests have created a great impetus to the development of socialistdemocracy.
Interests of individuals, collectives and the wholesociety are harmoniously combined through the implementation of aneconomic policy to diversify forms of ownership and develop amulti-sectoral commodity production economy.
Economic sectors are important components of a socialist-oriented market economy which are equal before the law.
Anew concept of social equality, at first the equality of developmentopportunities and democratisation in the socio-economic life of allpeople and all economic subjects, has encouraged the strong developmentof productive forces.
The acceptance of inequality, aiming tostep by step abolish injustice, is a practical solution to ensure thelegitimate interests of labourers and create impetus to the developmentof production.
“The application of regulations of distributionbased on working results and economic efficiency concurrently withcapital contribution from other resources and through social welfare”,in combination with the implementation of social policies such as hungerelimination and poverty alleviation, encouragement to legal enrichment,and care for human development helped to solve harmoniously the issueof interests and create an economic foundation for the development ofdemocracy in Vietnam.
Secondly, to increase thestrength and efficiency of the political system, and to promote theworking people’s right to mastery is the main and direct force indeveloping democracy.
“Democracy is the rule of formation,development and self-perfection of the socialist political system, it isboth a target and a driving force to our society’s renewal cause.”
Fromthe reality of the renewal, the operation of Vietnam ’s politicalsystem itself has clarified many issues related to the socialistdemocratic regime: all power belonging to the people, the Party takingthe role of leadership, building a law-governed socialist state – thebackbone of the democracy.
It is impossible to develop asocialist democracy without the decisive role of the political system.Many rights of citizens have been institutionalised and realised, manydemocratic achievements have been summed up and drawn from the practicalexperiences of the people.
The people’s socio-politicalactiveness and the enthusiasm for creativity are a huge energy sourcefor the socialist democracy development process.
Thirdly, to maintain and reinforce the national great unity based on thealliance between the working class and the peasantry and intelligentsiaunder the Party’s leadership is also “a main impetus to develop thecountry’ and the socialist democracy.
This is a key opinion aboutthe relationship between the democracy and the solidarity that helpscreate a unanimity for “the nation’s major goals”.
These realities define the current development process of the socialistdemocracy in Vietnam as a process moving in a positive direction.Its characteristics and access to various democratic values of humankindalso show that Vietnam ’s development process of democracy is inaccordance with the common rule and needs understanding and support fromfriends in the region and the world./.
Associate Professor-PhD of Social Science Nguyen An Ninh writes that inVietnam , democracy boasts typical characteristics that made thecountry’s regime different from others.
Firstly, the currentsocialist democratic regime in Vietnam is the first ever democraticregime in the country’s political history.
The Declaration ofIndependence for the Democratic Republic of Vietnam read by President HoChi Minh in Hanoi on September 2, 1945 marked the very start ofVietnam ’s first democratic regime.
Previously, Vietnam ’ssocio-political and economic life was ruled over by feudal, semi-feudaland colonial systems for many centuries.
The prominent feature ofthese systems was that the people had no right to participate in thecountry’s political life, let alone impose their will and aspirationsupon the governing administrations’ political structures.
Therefore, there were few or even no mechanisms established forimplementing democracy. A person’s fate as well as his/her rights andobligations depended on the society, the community or the crowd.
Atthat time, the development of socio-political life was often dependenton the virtue, ethics and capability of one single man – the king – whohad been placed on the pinnacle of power in the absence of a people’selection. And, this situation happened for thousands of years untilSeptember 2, 1945.
Vietnam ’s first democratic regime was bornduring the national liberation revolution and it was the fruit of theentire people’s struggle for liberation under the leadership of acommunist party.
This first democratic regime brought to the Vietnamese people the most fundamental human rights, including the right to live.
Weshould remember that even the right to live, which is the first andmost fundamental right of humans, had been threatened and stolen in afamine triggered by Japanese fascists in 1945 which claimed the lives ofnearly 2 million people, or one tenth of Vietnam ’s population atthe time.
The new regime also gave the people the right to be acitizen of an independent and free country, the right to participate inthe country’s political life, and other rights and interests.
Theserights were stringently enforced from the very first day of the newregime. The first general election was organised successfully withinseveral months of the day on which the Declaration of Independence wasproudly announced.
Secondly, Vietnam ’s first democraticregime had its roots in a struggle to win and defend nationalindependence for which generations of Vietnamese people had contributednot only their brainpower but also their blood. This regime was notestablished through a democratic parliament as in many countries in theworld.
The reality of Vietnam ’s political history in the 20th century showed that only when a country is free and independent, canits people enjoy democracy and society become republican.
Throughoutthe 20 th century, the Vietnamese people undertook to defend theirnational independence, along with building and developing democracy.
Duringthe course of time, generations of Vietnamese people understood thatthe most important thing was national independence and freedom.
President Ho Chi Minh used to say that “nothing is more precious than independence and freedom”.
Thatis the reason why Vietnam has built its concepts on citizens’rights and obligations, as well as institutional tools and mechanisms toimplement democracy around this philosophy.
In many cases, thecountry viewed national independence and freedom as the same asdemocracy and equality in the meaning of the right to exist and developlike other nations.
In that sense, Vietnam could gain freedomand democracy only when it was in peace, unified and independent andits people freed from slave status.
Therefore, Vietnam ’sadoption of a socialist democratic regime aimed to exercise the right toexist and develop like other nations around the world.
Thirdly, the socialist democratic regime was the evolvement of democracy at a higher degree.
Lookingback to the historical background where Vietnam began the course ofbuilding and developing democracy, it can be seen that we must workharder and harder in order to thoroughly capture the nature of socialistdemocracy.
It is inevitable when there are things that areincomplete or fail to match the ideal standards in the first democraticregime in a country where no democratic regime existed before.
Therefore, it is easy to identify and explain the incomplete features of the current democracy in Vietnam .
Vietnam has been undertaking the building of its socialistdemocratic regime in the context of a tiny, underdeveloped economy afterenduring wars to defend national independence and reunification fordozens of years and dealing with several socio-economic structuralupheavals.
In such circumstances it is clear that Vietnam hasnot yet developed a perfect democracy, so it is making efforts tonarrow the gaps between reality and the goals it has set.
However,it is noticeable that though still under construction, the socialistdemocratic regime in Vietnam has brought into full play itspre-eminent characteristics.
The regime has stood side by sidewith the nation in the struggle for national independence, freedom andreunification and contributed significantly to the socio-economicdevelopment strides Vietnam has made in its journey of renewal.
Theeconomic and socio-political backgrounds of this socialist democraticregime have laid the foundation for Vietnam to advance toward ajust, democratic and civilised society and ensured the fundamental humanrights for its citizens.
Obviously, problems arise in the course of developing democracy in Vietnam .
Suchproblems as bureaucracy, corruption and power-driven depravity wereinevitable and common, as they have been found in almost all moderndemocratic regimes in the world. They also had subjective causes thatcame from the process of building democracy.
However, based on awell-constructed foundation, the house of democracy, though messy withthe litter of construction work, has astonishingly bright prospects.
Fourthly,the principle of democracy ruled only by a single governing classthrough its political party matches Vietnam ’s developmental process.
Proceedingfrom the view that the core and the nature of the development ofdemocracy in Vietnam was that power belongs to the people, with thefirst and fundamental value being economic rights, Vietnam has givenimportance to promoting economic development and ensuring advancementand fairness in the field.
The country has also realised that itneeded to concentrate on mobilising all available resources as well aspolitical will for accomplishing its big goals, such as winningindependence and freedom or spurring socio-economic development.
In this case, the principle of a single, strongly focused political party seems to be the most suitable solution to Vietnam .
Inits very essence, this is a condition for deploying democracy as itdemonstrates the centralised nature of the democratic regime. In anydemocratic regime, the manifestation of the centralised nature isreflected in its adoption of a constitution and laws in order to serveits operation.
Under the communist party’s leadership, Vietnam has given the top priority to promoting democracy in the economic field.
Inthe past national democratic revolution, farmers, who accounted for 90percent of the population, were provided with farming land thanks to thecommunist party’s land reform policy.
Recently, as the countryhas pursued a renewal policy, the people have been given favourableconditions to exercise their right to do business in a multi-sectoraleconomy operating under socialist-oriented market mechanisms.
Thanksto these efforts, Vietnam has weathered the critical economiccrisis in late 1980s. Not only with that, the country’s production hasgrown robustly and the people’s living conditions have improvedremarkably.
Achieving an economic growth along with ensuringsocial advancement and equality has become the Communist Party ofVietnam’s consistent policy in spurring socio-economic development.
With that policy, a series of fundamental rights of democracy have been exercised in Vietnam .
Thepeople have enjoyed the right to be in pursuit of prosperity andhappiness and benefit entirely from the fruits of their labour.
Societyhas grown in a dynamic and positive manner toward fairness, democracyand civilisation. It has accepted social differences as long as thesedifferences have not been against the nation’s common interests andcared for all members of society in terms of developmental chances andbenefits they could have.
An important thing worthy to be notedhere was that coupled with robust socio-economic growth, the renewalprocess and the transformation of economic mechanisms in Vietnam hasbeen taking place in the context of socio-political stability – a statethat not all countries undertaking renovation and reforms have been ableto enjoy.
After carefully studying these issues, it can be notedthat developing democracy based on the principle of a single party is aperfect fit with reality in Vietnam .
And neither is this method an exception in the region or the world.
Inrecent decades, the newly-industrialised countries and territories,which are named as “the Dragons of Asia”, such as Singapore , Taiwan ,and the Republic of Korea , have all relied on similar politicalplatforms to produce “magical” gains in their socio-economic status aswell as in the promotion of democracy.
However, it is obvious that there is always another side of the coin in democracy promotion.
The Communist Party of Vietnam has clearly noticed threats of depravity and degradation inside its socialist democracy.
Theacts of violation of democracy, bureaucratic bungling, corruption, andalienation from the people have occurred and cascaded into negativeimpacts on the evolvement of democracy.
In its leadershipcapacity, the Communist Party of Vietnam has frankly admitted theseproblems and showed its resolve to address them.
Here, the peoplehave exercised their right to mastery and implemented democracy tocontribute largely to successes in the battle against corruption andbureaucracy, and democratic violation.
The people have helped to bring to light many cases of corruption and degradation committed by State officials.
This exposure should be regarded as a major achievement for Vietnam in promoting democracy.
Fifthly,the process of developing democracy in Vietnam has been embraced bythe entire political system and people from all walks of life.
Thischaracteristic is particularly unique in comparison to the developmentof democracy in some other countries during their “colour revolutions”over several recent decades.
In those countries, democracypromotion has often occurred inside only a part of political system,reflecting mainly in the transfer of power from one political group toanother political group.
In Vietnam , the difference has beennoticeable, since democracy promotion has taken place in parallel atboth macro and micro levels and from the central to the grassroots andvice versa, thus making a comprehensive and deep-reaching movement.
TheCommunist Party of Vietnam is the initiator of policies and guidelinespertaining to democratisation of socio-political life in Vietnam .
Withthat key social responsibility, renewing the content and operationalmethods of the entire political system has been crucial with the focuson renewing the Party’s leadership of the State, and stepping updemocratisation in the Party, administrative reforms in the State, andreforms in the judiciary sector. This plan has been made specific withthe support of policies, ordinances and laws.
Coupled with that,supervision and social feedback by political organisations like theNational Assembly and the Fatherland Front has been accelerated toensure the correctness and conformity of the process of democratisation,thus gaining the people’s backing for related political decisions.
Manyplans and policies issued by the Party and State have been publicisedfor the purpose of gathering the people’s comments via surveys, polls orthe mass media.
Such social participation and examination havenurtured the formation of a developmental trend from the grassrootslevel that has contributed greatly to democracy promotion.
Itcan be seen that in many cases, movements made from the grassroots leveland specific approaches taken by each locality to meet its needs havehelped promote democratisation in Vietnam . This has been noticeable,especially during the renovation process.
Such movements havebeen called by various names, such as “xe rao” (breaking the line),“bung ra” (busting), or “khoan chui” (unofficial piecework assignment).
Theseacts have reflected the strong proactive spirit in political and socialfronts although they were outside regulations and mismatched with thelegal framework at the time.
They have been seen as responses of democracy and represented requirements of reality at the grassroots level.
It is noted that in dealing with these movements, the central government has shown respect and a democratic attitude.
Thoughmaking several adjustments, the central government has allowed thesemovements to occur on a trial basis to help in drawing lessons forfuture improvements.
Later, many active movements made at thegrassroots level have been recognised and have contributed to shaping anational renewal plan for the country.
In time, the “central tograssroots and vice versa” trends merged and incorporated into a drivingforce to boost the promotion of democracy.
Learning from theexperiences of this work, Vietnam stipulated regulations ongrassroots democracy in 1998 and developed it into an ordinance in 2007.
The move has been acknowledged by international friends as creative and suitable for promoting democracy.
Thecharacteristics presented above have reflected particular features anddifferences and shaped Vietnam ’s own approaches to the promotion ofdemocracy.
Accepting and respecting differences is also aprinciple of modern democracy. Perhaps with its own uniquecharacteristic features, Vietnam may make active contributions tothe commonwealth of humankind’s democracy.
In his article, PhDNguyen An Ninh also notes that apart from developing democracy basedon its own characteristics, Vietnam has proactively learnt and appliedcreatively many democratic values of humankind to further perfect itsown democracy.
The socialist regime in Vietnam has held high and adhered to the principle of democratos – power belonging to the people.
This was the revolutionary goal that Ho Chi Minh defined as early as in 1925.
ThePresident said, “We have sacrificed our lives for revolution – weshould pursue it to the end. After the revolution is won, power shouldbe handed over to the majority of people, don’t leave it in the hands ofthe minority. So, more sacrifices need not to be made and the peoplecan enjoy happiness”.
That principle has been interpreted intoreality with the establishment of the State power system whose personnelare elected, and responsibilities and rights are set, by the people.
Therights and obligation of citizens (including the rights to election,supervision and dismissal of State agencies) have been prescribedclearly in the constitution and practised in reality.
Thecountry’s big decisions have been made by the National Assembly, whichis the most powerful agency representing the people’s will.
Vietnam has also inherited a number of principles of managingdemocracy, including general elections, the principle of centraliseddemocracy, the supreme role of constitution and laws in social life, andthe implementation of representative democracy in combination withdirect democracy.
In building a socialist law-governed Stateof the people, by the people and for the people, the unity of Statepower is based on the assignment and coordination in performing threerights: legislation, execution and justice, under the leadership of theCommunist Party. This can be considered a combination of humankindvalues and a creative application to Vietnam ’s specific conditions.This is an inheritance of organisational experience, structure andfunctions of the three most important parts of the State, plus theprinciple that the highest power belongs to the people.
It couldbe understood that unity is the foundation while the assignment andcoordination are methods of achieving unified State power. The Party’sleadership also aims to ensure smooth coordination and strict adherenceto the Constitution and law.
Building asocialist law-governed State of the people, by the people and for thepeople is a basic way of promoting the people’s right to mastery andguaranteeing that the State’s power belongs to the people.
TheState’s power is defined by the Constitution and laws. The State managessociety with the law and promotes the rights of all people andcitizens. The State strengthens the legal system and deals with allviolations of the law in a strict and fair manner in order to protectthe rights to democracy and freedom and the legitimate interests ofcitizens, to prevent the abuse of power of State agencies and employees,to preclude the abuse of democracy and indiscipline, thus ensuring theefficiency of management operations.
Vietnam’s Constitution and laws also confirm citizens’ right to join inmanaging the State and society, discussing common issues for the wholenation and localities and making recommendations to State agencies.
Citizensof the Socialist Republic of Vietnam are guaranteed all fundamentalrights to freedom, including the rights to equality before the law, freeand fair elections, freedom of expression, freedom of the press,complaints and denouncements. Those rights to freedom are a foundationfor the people to inspect the State’s operations and are one of theimportant methods to implement democracy.
Caring for people,protecting legitimate rights and interests of all people; observing andperforming international conventions on human rights that Vietnam hasalready signed or joined in; renewing institutions, identifying theresponsibility of administrations at all levels, agencies, officials andState employees to deal with complainants and denouncements lodged bycitizens; implementing the regulations on democracy, expanding democracyat grassroots level and creating better conditions for the people toengage in managing society, discussing and deciding important areimportant contents in the enforcement of the Constitution and laws andthe development of democracy in Vietnam.
Thesocialist democratic regime in Vietnam also acknowledges thatsociety is unified in diversity, accepts and respects differences interms of class, ethnicity, religion and gender of communities.
Therights to equality and freedom of each community are prescribed andprotected by the law based on democratic principles: minority complieswith majority, but minority has the right to have and keep theirdifferences, providing that these differences do not go counter to thenation’s common interests; tolerance, cooperation and dialogue to dealwith differences, disputes and conflicts. “Taking the goal ofmaintaining national independence and unification and for a rich people,a strong country, an equitable, democratic, civilized society thecommon ground to unite compatriots from ethnic groups, religions and allwalks of life at home and overseas; abolishing all complexes,preconceptions and discriminations against the past and classes.Respecting different opinions that do not go counter to the nation’sinterests. Upholding the tradition of benevolence and tolerance andbuilding up a spirit of openness and mutual trust for politicalstability and social consensus.”
By acceptingand inheriting humankind’s democratic values, the process of renewal anddevelopment of democracy in Vietnam has achieved a lot ofsuccesses, thereby making many important contributions to the world. Forexample, the implementation of the Regulations on Grassroots Democracy(since 2007 the Ordinance on Grassroots Democracy) was evaluated as, “acreation in realising the principle of the people, by the people and forthe people in political reality” and “a scientific political movementin line with modern democracy”.
With a proactiveand positive participation in international and regional cooperation,the process of developing democracy in Vietnam proves that its natureincorporates democratic values of humankind and also through thisprocess Vietnam contributes greatly to democracy in the modernworld.
The author noted an outstandingphenomenon that many people discuss democracy and the development ofdemocracy in Vietnam . Besides constructive opinions, there are stilla lot of misunderstandings or calculated intentions.
Following are the most noteworthy cases:
Many people are impatient to speed up the process of democratisation regardless of objective conditions.
Thecause of renewal in Vietnam includes economic reforms andstep-by-step political reforms and both aspects are closely connectedand mutually supported.
Economic reforms focus on stepping up industrialisation and modernisation and building a socialist-oriented market economy.
Politicalreforms aims for the major goal of perfecting the political system tofoster the development of socialist democracy and focus on maintainingthe Party’s leadership, renewing the Party’s method of leadership;reforming the State’s administration, creating a socialist law-governedState of the people, by the people and for the people; upholdingcitizens’ proactive involvement in politics and the people’s right tomastery.
It is obvious that the process of renewal still has muchto be done and cannot be accomplished in a short time. Being aware ofthis, Vietnam has already defined a path and planned scientificallyand cautiously. Vietnam has also recorded a wide range of majorachievements of historical significance during the renewal process.
However, a number of people have yet to recognise or intentionallyignore this fact, and want to speed up the process regardless ofconditions. Sometimes, their impatience makes them contradictthemselves: although they do not recognise Vietnam ’s market economythey still desire to use it as a lever to promote democracy. They wantto accelerate political reforms but at them same time purposefullycreate instability such as issues related to human rights, religion andethnic minorities, to hamper Vietnam’s comprehensive reforms.
Many people try to explain the incomplete status of democracy in Vietnam with extreme and unfair interpretations.
Theobjective difficulties of a developing economy and the complicatedbackground of a society in the process of economic restructuring seem tobe intentionally ignored by a number of people and for them, the onlyproblem is democracy.
They are extreme to such an extent thatthey consider democratic development is only for “democracy”, not forgrowth combined with social progress and equality.
Democratisation in Vietnam does not have itself as a target butis aimed at stepping up industrialisation and modernisation for the goalof a rich people, a strong country, a democratic, equitable andcivilised society.
The development of democracy is aimed atcreating favourable conditions for socio-economic development. Only inthis way, can democracy play a positive role in the development of anation.
In addition, a number of people use thestatus of incomplete democracy in Vietnam as the reason behind everysocial issue.
In their opinion, the lack of democracy is blamedfor such issues as economic underdevelopment, incomplete exploitationof potential and advantages, social inequality, waste, red tape andcorruption. According to this interpretation, the settlement of thedemocratic issue would be a “magic wand” for Vietnam .
With this way of thought and argument, they would finally negate thesocialist democratic regime in Vietnam . Hence, outwardly they seemto make suggestions and discussions to promote the development ofdemocracy, but in fact it is a sabotage of democracy. And obviously,they would write out a prescription of Western-style democratisation.
While discussing this issue, many like to cite theUS democracy as a model. But few people debate how the USdemocracy is operating – is it absolutely perfect or does it haveshortcomings? Is the US political system really a pluralist systemand therefore, does it have a premise suitable to a democratic regime? Anumber of “pro-democracy” activists consider it as a starting point tocriticise singular politics, citing a lack of democratic foundations,arguing that pluralism builds democracy and is able to balance power andreduce the occurrence of arbitrary actions.
Outwardly, the US political arena seems to have quite a lot ofpolitical parties. However, in the country’s largest political activity –the presidential elections – there are only two bourgeois factionscalled the Democratic Party and the Republican Party in the final race.The class nature of the two parties is the same – that is the party ofthe bourgeois class, by the bourgeois class and for the bourgeois class.Noam Chomsky – a well-known researcher of US politics – once saidfrankly: “Nobody should have any illusions. The United States hasessentially a one-party system and the ruling party is the businessparty”. (In an interview with the German newspaper Der Spiegel onOctober 28, 2008.)
Why did Chomsky concludethat? If US parties want to run for and win the elections they do nothave to announce a better or a more convincing platform for democraticdevelopment. The issue lies in another place: it is the power of money.In the US , if you have little or no money, you should not thinkabout engaging in politics or democracy. The US electoral mechanismforces candidates to be a capitalist or a person who is backed bycapitalists. Candidates must have money to conduct election campaigns,entice voters and hire mass media such as TV and newspapers topopularize and polish up their images, and at the same time, to lowerand denigrate their rivals. You might not have enough money to engage insuch affairs but there will be sponsors – rich capitalist individualsor capitalist groups – who are ready to pay. However, after you win theelections, “you have to obey us”, you must promulgate policies whichbenefit the capitalists or the capitalist interest groups.
Money and power are usually connected and they look to each other forprofits, not for democracy. Of course, the loudest voice in US politicsremains the democratic principles and the implementation of theseprinciples. However, democracy in the US sometimes is considered abrand name or label for someone to engage in affairs other thandemocracy development. Barack Obama wrote in his book “The Audacity ofHope: Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream” that US democracyhas been divided and deviated by pluralism and a multiparty mechanism.This mechanism seems to pose challenges to the principles that haveserved as a firm foundation for the nation since its founding, when itproduces extreme variants and deviations in the political system.
Democracy. This word seems to delude many people into thinking thatpolitics can make democracy in the way bakers make bread. But if youwant to have bread you must have wheat flour first, the skills of abaker are not enough. Also in the above book, in his capacity as aninsider, Obama wrote that politics has become a business and not amission.
The so-called arguments are actually little better thanperformances. High-faluting words are used for immoral purposes and themost noble emotions could be sabotaged for power, schemes, rapacity andintolerance. Intolerant interests compete to gain the advantage, andminority groups try to impose their thoughts on the absolute truth. Fromthis view, we can understand the nature of that so-called democracyreally is.
Vietnam does not repudiate theintrinsic values of mankind contained in other democracies and is readyto adopt reasonable factors. However, reality suggests that not everydifference is new and not every new thing is reasonable.
In conclusion, researcher Nguyen An Ninh affirms that consistency tosocialism is an inherent demand of the development process of democracyin Vietnam
As its basic target, the socialist democracy has to perfect the democracy of the people, by the people and for the people.
Thisprocess’s typical character is that it sprang from the requirements ofeconomic development, and from the socio-political point of view – it isa process that involves the people’s proactive and voluntaryparticipation.
It takes the perfection of the socialist politicalsystem’s organisation and operation as a basic solution to uphold thepeople’s right to mastery.
Vietnam ’s method for development of democracy is to perfect and renew but not change the political regime.
The development of democracy in Vietnam is the continuation of therule, “National independence is closely associated with socialism”. Itis carried out under the leadership of the Communist Party of Vietnam,in the process of developing and perfecting the State’s nature “of thepeople, by the people and for the people”; in the period of renewing andimproving the organisation and mode of operation of the NationalAssembly of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam; and in upholding workingpeople’s right to mastery through mass organisations. It is realisedthrough numerous practical measures, typically the implementation of the“Ordinance of democracy at grass-roots level”.
Consistency to socialism in the process of democracy development inVietnam is not a “self-defensive reaction’ but a basic cause fordemocracy development. It is an inner logic of the socialist democraticregime in Vietnam .
The development of the socialist democracyat first originates from the demands of development and comprehensiverenewal, from the process of renovation and completion of the democracy,as well as from the lesson of making people the roots of society andthe democratic regime’s nature “of the people, by the people, for thepeople” in Vietnam.
This nature has been proven many times in therenewal process through people’s diversified creativeness. Vietnam’s experience is drawn from the renovation process: “Take the people forthe roots” and “The renovation should be based on the people” is areflection of this logic.
The development of socialistdemocracy in Vietnam is an inner process. This was defined by threebasic driving forces that are giving impetus to the process: Firstly,the interest and a basic unity of interests between subjects of thesocialist democracy serves as a core impetus to Vietnam ’sdevelopment of democracy.
The hub of this issue is thatVietnam has found a proper solution to its own unique circumstances:providing an opportunity for development and increasing the ability tochoose an opportunity for all classes of people is the specificcharacter of the solution to harmonise all interests in thesocialist-oriented market economy.
The working class’s interestis identical with the whole nation’s interest in the target of “Awealthy people, a strong country, and an equal, democratic and civilisedsociety, making a great unanimity in the society”, thus helping create ageneral consensus in the society.
In addition, theacceptance of differences of among social interest groups and theestablishment of fairness during the process of implementing theseinterests have created a great impetus to the development of socialistdemocracy.
Interests of individuals, collectives and the wholesociety are harmoniously combined through the implementation of aneconomic policy to diversify forms of ownership and develop amulti-sectoral commodity production economy.
Economic sectors are important components of a socialist-oriented market economy which are equal before the law.
Anew concept of social equality, at first the equality of developmentopportunities and democratisation in the socio-economic life of allpeople and all economic subjects, has encouraged the strong developmentof productive forces.
The acceptance of inequality, aiming tostep by step abolish injustice, is a practical solution to ensure thelegitimate interests of labourers and create impetus to the developmentof production.
“The application of regulations of distributionbased on working results and economic efficiency concurrently withcapital contribution from other resources and through social welfare”,in combination with the implementation of social policies such as hungerelimination and poverty alleviation, encouragement to legal enrichment,and care for human development helped to solve harmoniously the issueof interests and create an economic foundation for the development ofdemocracy in Vietnam.
Secondly, to increase thestrength and efficiency of the political system, and to promote theworking people’s right to mastery is the main and direct force indeveloping democracy.
“Democracy is the rule of formation,development and self-perfection of the socialist political system, it isboth a target and a driving force to our society’s renewal cause.”
Fromthe reality of the renewal, the operation of Vietnam ’s politicalsystem itself has clarified many issues related to the socialistdemocratic regime: all power belonging to the people, the Party takingthe role of leadership, building a law-governed socialist state – thebackbone of the democracy.
It is impossible to develop asocialist democracy without the decisive role of the political system.Many rights of citizens have been institutionalised and realised, manydemocratic achievements have been summed up and drawn from the practicalexperiences of the people.
The people’s socio-politicalactiveness and the enthusiasm for creativity are a huge energy sourcefor the socialist democracy development process.
Thirdly, to maintain and reinforce the national great unity based on thealliance between the working class and the peasantry and intelligentsiaunder the Party’s leadership is also “a main impetus to develop thecountry’ and the socialist democracy.
This is a key opinion aboutthe relationship between the democracy and the solidarity that helpscreate a unanimity for “the nation’s major goals”.
These realities define the current development process of the socialistdemocracy in Vietnam as a process moving in a positive direction.Its characteristics and access to various democratic values of humankindalso show that Vietnam ’s development process of democracy is inaccordance with the common rule and needs understanding and support fromfriends in the region and the world./.
