Dilemmas in the Construction of a Socialist Law-based State in Vietnam: Electoral Integrity and Reform

Abstract

The Vietnamese party-state has been seeking to develop the concept of a socialist law-based state in an effort to provide a legal-rational justification for its rule. One of the key pillars in the construction of a socialist law-based state has been electoral governance. Unlike the popular understanding proliferated by the Western media about the meaning of elections in authoritarian countries, I argue that elections are of significance to the political life of the Vietnamese party-state even without pressure from any political opposition. This is because there is a growing need for the party-state to make the elections work more effectively to bolster its legitimacy. Along with the process of promoting the concept of a Vietnamese socialist law-based state, continuous reforms of the electoral integrity system have been considered and cautiously implemented. An important aspect of the reform is to ensure the values, purposes and duties for which power is entrusted to or held by electoral institutions are honoured. It is argued that the process of building a more integrated national system of rules and values has been set in motion but many setbacks have occurred from time to time, making it a dynamic process.     

Market Creation by Leninist Means: The Regulation of Financial Services in the People’s Republic of China

Abstract

Within the process of China’s transition from a centrally-administered to a more market-oriented economy, financial services have played a very special role, but in a counter-intuitive way: what looks like Western market economics turns out to be a Leninist regulatory model. Even as international financial service providers and regulatory communities are invited to play a role in the creation of a Chinese market in financial services, the Communist Party has strengthened its control of top personnel, the judiciary and the media. The reform of the central bank and the establishment of technically independent regulatory agencies seemed to have taken China down the path of OECD economies. The model of a very specific post-regulatory state with Chinese characteristics, however, has not fully incorporated the notion of private authority. Such an acceptance would pose a threat to the CCP monopoly on political power. The attempt to use only semi-private organisations to develop financial markets undermines the long-term stability of the political and economic order.     

CULTURE‐LED DEVELOPMENT AND CONFLICT OVER URBAN SPACE: REIMAG(IN)ING ST PETERSBURG,RUSSIA

Culture‐led projects have long been part of strategies to regenerate cities in advanced capitalist economies. In recent decades those projects also have become a focal point of urban development in post‐socialist cities. This study argues that an attempt to reimage(in)e the city of St Petersburg through its culture‐led flagship project, Mariinsky Theatre–2, has generated significant changes not only to its built fabric, but also to its social fabric. In the context of a post‐socialist city, this study examines how the urban space of the historical centre is being contested by its urban users, often on the basis of differences in perception, including the impacts of the culture‐led project on those perceptions. Civic awareness about social exclusion and inclusion in urban space is on the rise in this post‐socialist city.     

社会主义城市的空间实践——上海工人新村(1949-1978)

本文以"历史-空间-社会"的三重视角对1949-1978年上海工人新村的"缘起"、"建造过程"以及"对城市空间和社会生活的影响"进行了分析。揭示了受国家财政和地方工业化政策的影响,带有"社会主义理想"和"为工人阶级服务"双重目标的新村计划在实施过程中出现了明显的"非连续性"特征。从数量上看,三十年(1949-1978)的新村建造没能真正的解决上海工人阶级的住房困难;另一方面,作为社会主义时期上海城市改造的主体,工人新村也成为落实新政权的政治意愿、经济政策和社会理想的重要手段,新村的大规模建造对城市空间结构与社会生活也产生着持续而深刻的影响。     

Reorganization of Guilds and State Control of Small Business: A Case Study of the Teahouse Guild in Early 1950s Chengdu

This paper attempts to investigate the decline of Chinese guilds in the early 1950s and to show how political change altered economic life in China. Although the socialist transformation of private ownership started in 1954, the new government used state power to gradually weaken private ownership far before that time, building a foundation for the full-scale socialist transformation later. The reorganization of the Teahouse Guild in Chengdu reflected the general policies of the Communist Party that changed traditional social and economic organizations. The new guild almost became a representative of the government in the teahouse profession, which no longer maintained the nature of the traditional guilds. Actually, the guilds existed in name only after the reorganization of the early 1950s, and the teahouse guild disappeared after 1953. The death of the guild was a result of decline among social organizations and the growing strength of state power.     

也谈建国初期私营传媒消亡的原因

从1949年到1952年底,我国新闻业初步完成了转型,形成了集中统一的宏观体系格局,为社会主义建设的全面展开做好了准备。在这一新体系建立的同时,私营传媒迅速消亡,但经营不善并不是私营传媒消亡的主要原因,私营传媒的消亡是由其所有制性质、活动特征以及意识形态属性决定的,是上层建筑适应经济基础的表现。此外,党和国家集中统一的新闻业体系的迅速建立也使私营传媒失去了存在的价值和空间。     

从新民主主义国营经济到社会主义国营经济--关于毛泽东新中国国营经济性质思想演变的历史考察

毛泽东的新民主主义理论是在中国共产党只是掌握了中国革命的部分领导权的特殊历史背景下提出的。第二次国共合作破裂后,中国共产党掌握了中国革命的全部领导权。由此,毛泽东的新民主主义理论也就转变成为初级社会主义理论。作为这一理论转型的中心环节之一,毛泽东在延安时期提出的新民主主义国营经济理论,这时也转变为西柏坡时期的社会主义国营经济理论。按照毛泽东的真实想法,我国建国初期将实行的,实际上并不是延安时期所设想的以新民主主义国营经济为主导的新民主主义的经济制度,而是以社会主义国营经济为主导的、五种经济成分并存的初级社会主义的经济制度。但毛泽东出于策略上的考虑,还是称之为“新民主主义经济”。这就是近半个世纪来人们普遍地误认为这种经济制度就是所谓“新民主主义经济制度”的直接原因。     

中苏论战与中国社会主义建设道路的探索

中苏论战对当年以毛泽东为代表的中国共产党人探索中国的社会主义建设道路既起过一定的促进作用,也产生了严重的干扰和破坏作用。在改革开放新时期,以邓小平为代表的中国共产党人总结中苏论战的教训,对我国探索建设中国特色社会主义道路、对邓小平理论的形成和发展产生了深远的影响。     

邓小平中国社会主义现代化建设思想

邓小平是中国社会主义现代化事业卓越的思想家和设计师。在中国共产党领导人民接续近代以来中国人的梦想、为国家实现现代化而艰苦奋斗的进程中,邓小平坚持将中国实际与现代化一般规律相结合的原则,强调全民族整体动员、奋起直追的现代化政治观念和社会意识,提出社会主义现代化是决定国家民族命运的千秋大业的观点,回答了中国为什么必须实现社会主义现代化的问题;他确定中国式的百年发展战略,设计了从温饱、小康到基本实现现代化的发展道路,回答了什么是中国式现代化的问题;他强调以经济发展为中心,大力发展生产力,重视知识和人才,通过改革开放推进中国现代化进程,回答了怎么样建设中国社会主义现代化的问题,从而为我国现代化建设提供了一整套思想理论、发展战略和步骤方法,领导中国人民走出了一条加快现代化步伐、实现民族复兴的崭新道路。     

试论湖北个体手工业社会主义改造的基本完成

在恢复和发展湖北手工业、试办手工业合作社的基础上,1953～1956年湖北省人民政府先后多次召开手工业会议,贯彻"积极领导、稳步前进"的方针,集中解决手工业发展中的突出问题,进一步明确手工业合作社的性质、任务和方针,建立全省手工业管理机构,保证手工业合作社及其生产的快速发展。到1956年底,全省手工业社会主义改造基本完成。1957年,全省又着重解决了农业社和手工业社的关系、集中经营和分散经营的关系,以及社员分配问题,从而大大促进了湖北手工业的健康发展。