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Article: A story with three endings. (possible scenarios for survival of Vietnam's Communist Party amid market reforms)(Survey of Vietnam.)(Brief Article)
- Article from:
- The Economist (US)
- Article date:
- July 8, 1995
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1995 Economist Newspaper Ltd. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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VIETNAM, on a closer look, is one country. Despite civil war, regional disparities and growing differences of wealth, its national identity is strong. Useful as nationalism was for Vietnam in its recent heroic period, it is going to be less help-- particularly in its anti-foreigner guise--in Vietnam's present struggle to overcome poverty and catch up with richer, less backward neighbours.
Vietnam's one power, the Communist Party, looks unbudgeable, but not unchangeable. Despite the name, it has scrapped pure communism and, like China, is pursuing market Leninism: a mixture of capitalist economics and communist politics. In the end this combination cannot work. The ...