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The “New” Law and Development Movement in the Post-Cold War Era: A Vietnam Case Study

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 April 2024

Carol V. Rose
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Abstract

This article explores the reemergence of the Law and Development Movement in the post–Cold War era, with special reference to the impact of foreign legal assistance programs on legal and political reforms in Vietnam. Relying on extensive interviews conducted in Vietnam, as well as traditional academic research, the article focuses on changes in Vietnam's legal culture in the first decade of political “renovation.” It then describes foreign legal assistance to Vietnam. Finally, it applies the critiques that emerged from the law and development debate to present-day legal assistance efforts in Vietnam, in an effort to determine the validity of those critiques in the post–Cold War era of foreign legal assistance.

Type
Research Article
Information
Law & Society Review , Volume 32 , Issue 1 , 1998 , pp. 93 - 140
Copyright
Copyright © The Law and Society Association, 1998. All Rights Reserved

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Footnotes

Field research in Vietnam was conducted under the auspices of the Reginald Lewis Fund of Harvard Law School (1996) and the Harvard International Law Society (1994). Special thanks to The Henry Luce Foundation, Inc., for providing financial support for updating research for publication (1997).

The author wishes to thank Professor William Alford, Director of East Asian Legal Studies at Harvard Law School, and Mr. Mark Sidel, Former Director of the Ford Foundation's Programs in Vietnam and Lecturer in Law, University of Iowa College of Law, for their insights and suggestions on several drafts. Thanks also to Vice-Dean David Smith, Dr. Van Ta Tai, Professor Henry Steiner, Dr. Joanne Baldine, and Mr. Makau wa Matua, all of Harvard Law School, for their suggestions; Ms. Suzanne Nossel and Ms. Nguyen Thi-Thanh Ha for editing suggestions on early drafts; and to Mr. Thomas Harrington Jr., Mr. Noah Harrington, and Drs. Earl and Marilyn Rose for their continuous support, intellectual and otherwise. Finally, thanks to the Vietnamese officials and representatives of donor agencies who agreed to be interviewed, provide information, or otherwise supported my research. The author is solely responsible for all errors and omissions.

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