Governance Institutions and Incentive Structures in Vietnam

Last October a small workshop was held in Bangkok to present draft papers as a step towards the Public Sector Challenges and Government Reforms in South East Asia conference in Jakarta. The workshop was chaotic and fascinating. The vague topic of governance saw us fly off in many directions, and after some discussion of public sector reform processes we found ourselves naturally more interested in politics, corruption, and the grand sweep of political and social changes. To cover all the aspects of governance, however, allows little to be studied in depth, and anyway that is not the objective of this research project. This paper therefore begins by making clear the nature of governance generally and then how and why this paper focuses on one aspect: the capacity of administrative and “policy-making elites”. By way of historical background, the paper then surveys the particular governance challenge in Vietnam as it continues its transition from central planning to markets. The nature and characteristics of the present administrative structure in Vietnam are then surveyed, followed by a similar survey of policy-making processes and capacities. The paper concludes by identifying areas of governance “needs” for capacity building, and argues for a change in the approach and focus of governance technical assistance.