Bureaucratisation And The State Revisited: Critical Reflections On Administrative Reforms In Post-renovation Vietnam
In spite of administrative reforms implemented over the past 30 years of Renovation Policy (Đổi mới) by the Vietnamese Communist Party with massive support from donor agencies, Vietnam's state machinery and bureaucracy has largely remained bloated and fragmented. As they evolved from state t...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Penerbit Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM Press)
2016
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| Online Access: | http://eprints.usm.my/40896/1/IJAPS-121-2016-Art.-11-40.pdf |
| _version_ | 1825834327774068736 |
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| author | Benedikter, Simon |
| author_facet | Benedikter, Simon |
| author_sort | Benedikter, Simon |
| collection | USM |
| description | In spite of administrative reforms implemented over the past 30 years of
Renovation Policy (Đổi mới) by the Vietnamese Communist Party with massive
support from donor agencies, Vietnam's state machinery and bureaucracy has
largely remained bloated and fragmented. As they evolved from state to market,
administration and public service did not reform as envisaged in a long-term
policy that aims to bring Vietnam closer to Western-dominated, normative models
of "good governance." The ineffectiveness of these reforms has commonly been
attributed to poor human capacity, weak law enforcement, inconsistent legal
frameworks and similar types of formal institutional shortcomings, all of which
ought to be remedied by strengthening formal institutions and capacity building.
In going beyond such mainstream institutionalist views, this paper appraises
administrative reforms from a more critical, sociological perspective. It takes into
account socio-cultural and socio-political institutional factors, such as norms,
values and worldviews, which often serve as pivotal elements shaping reform
trajectories and outcomes. Conceptually, the paper draws on a 1987 study by
Hans-Dieter Evers that traces different types of bureaucratisation as a means to
unravel the nature of bureaucracy and its evolutionary process through the lens of
social history. This study elucidates that despite formally proclaimed
commitments to Weberian bureaucracy, in practice, bureaucratisation as
currently observable in Vietnam is chiefly featured by strong tendencies of socalled Orwellisation and Parkinsonisation. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-06T15:21:05Z |
| format | Article |
| id | usm.eprints-40896 |
| institution | Universiti Sains Malaysia |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-06T15:21:05Z |
| publishDate | 2016 |
| publisher | Penerbit Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM Press) |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | usm.eprints-408962018-07-04T08:31:04Z http://eprints.usm.my/40896/ Bureaucratisation And The State Revisited: Critical Reflections On Administrative Reforms In Post-renovation Vietnam Benedikter, Simon P1-1091 Philology. Linguistics(General) In spite of administrative reforms implemented over the past 30 years of Renovation Policy (Đổi mới) by the Vietnamese Communist Party with massive support from donor agencies, Vietnam's state machinery and bureaucracy has largely remained bloated and fragmented. As they evolved from state to market, administration and public service did not reform as envisaged in a long-term policy that aims to bring Vietnam closer to Western-dominated, normative models of "good governance." The ineffectiveness of these reforms has commonly been attributed to poor human capacity, weak law enforcement, inconsistent legal frameworks and similar types of formal institutional shortcomings, all of which ought to be remedied by strengthening formal institutions and capacity building. In going beyond such mainstream institutionalist views, this paper appraises administrative reforms from a more critical, sociological perspective. It takes into account socio-cultural and socio-political institutional factors, such as norms, values and worldviews, which often serve as pivotal elements shaping reform trajectories and outcomes. Conceptually, the paper draws on a 1987 study by Hans-Dieter Evers that traces different types of bureaucratisation as a means to unravel the nature of bureaucracy and its evolutionary process through the lens of social history. This study elucidates that despite formally proclaimed commitments to Weberian bureaucracy, in practice, bureaucratisation as currently observable in Vietnam is chiefly featured by strong tendencies of socalled Orwellisation and Parkinsonisation. Penerbit Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM Press) 2016 Article PeerReviewed application/pdf en http://eprints.usm.my/40896/1/IJAPS-121-2016-Art.-11-40.pdf Benedikter, Simon (2016) Bureaucratisation And The State Revisited: Critical Reflections On Administrative Reforms In Post-renovation Vietnam. International Journal of Asia Pacific Studies (IJAPS), 12 (1). pp. 1-40. ISSN ISSN: 1823-6243 http://ijaps.usm.my/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/IJAPS-121-2016-Art.-11-40.pdf |
| spellingShingle | P1-1091 Philology. Linguistics(General) Benedikter, Simon Bureaucratisation And The State Revisited: Critical Reflections On Administrative Reforms In Post-renovation Vietnam |
| title | Bureaucratisation And The State Revisited:
Critical Reflections On Administrative
Reforms In Post-renovation Vietnam |
| title_full | Bureaucratisation And The State Revisited:
Critical Reflections On Administrative
Reforms In Post-renovation Vietnam |
| title_fullStr | Bureaucratisation And The State Revisited:
Critical Reflections On Administrative
Reforms In Post-renovation Vietnam |
| title_full_unstemmed | Bureaucratisation And The State Revisited:
Critical Reflections On Administrative
Reforms In Post-renovation Vietnam |
| title_short | Bureaucratisation And The State Revisited:
Critical Reflections On Administrative
Reforms In Post-renovation Vietnam |
| title_sort | bureaucratisation and the state revisited critical reflections on administrative reforms in post renovation vietnam |
| topic | P1-1091 Philology. Linguistics(General) |
| url | http://eprints.usm.my/40896/1/IJAPS-121-2016-Art.-11-40.pdf |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT benediktersimon bureaucratisationandthestaterevisitedcriticalreflectionsonadministrativereformsinpostrenovationvietnam |