2. Political Setting:
Vietnam
• Prior to the French conquest, the
political institutions of Vietnam
were patterned after the Chinese
model. Confucianism was the
state ideology, and the emperor
ruled with the assistance of
mandarins—scholars trained
3. Political Setting:
Vietnam
in Confucian principles. That
system was essentially discarded
during the period of French
colonial rule, although the
Vietnamese emperor was still
permitted a figurehead authority
from his imperial palace in Hue.
4. Political Setting:
Vietnam
After the division of the country
in 1954, the North established a
Soviet-style Communist regime,
while the government in the
South created a parliamentary
system patterned after those in
the West. Neither became a
5. Political Setting:
Vietnam
practicing democracy. The
Communist system of the North
was extended to the entire
country after reunification in
1976. Modern Vietnam has a
unitary system of government
with a strong central
7. Political Setting:
Vietnam
A. Executive
Under the constitution as
amended in 1992, the head of
state is a president, elected to a
five-year term by the National
Assembly from among its
members. The president is
advised by a National Defense
8. Political Setting:
Vietnam
and Security Council and is
assisted by a cabinet composed
of a prime minister, a deputy
prime minister, ministers. All
ministers are appointed by and
accountable to the National
Assembly.
9. Political Setting:
Vietnam
B. Legislature
According to the constitution,
Vietnam’s legislature, the
unicameral (single-house)
National Assembly is the
“highest organ of State power”
in Vietnam. It possesses sole
10. Political Setting:
Vietnam
power to pass legislation and to
amend the constitution. It is
composed of 498 deputies,
elected for five years by all
citizens over 18 years of age. The
National Assembly holds two
sessions each year to pass
11. Political Setting:
Vietnam
legislation proposed by the
executive branch of the
government. In the past, it
served as a rubber stamp for
decisions already reached by the
Communist Party. Recently it has
begun to adopt a more
13. Political Setting:
Vietnam
C. Judiciary
The judicial system in Vietnam
was patterned after the Soviet
model. At the lowest level are
district courts, whose decisions
may be appealed to provincial
and city courts. The highest
14. Political Setting:
Vietnam
court of appeal is the Supreme
People’s Court, which also
functions as a court of first
instance for certain serious
crimes. Members of the
Supreme People’s Court are
elected by the National
15. Political Setting:
Vietnam
Assembly for five-year terms.
Each of the lower courts is
assigned a judge and several
people’s assessors, who play a
role similar to that of a jury in
the Anglo-American system. All
are elected by and held
17. Political Setting:
Vietnam
The Supreme People’s Office of
Supervision and Control is
responsible for the uniform
implementation of the law. The
office is headed by a procurator-
general who is appointed to a
five-year term by the National
18. Political Setting:
Vietnam
Assembly. Below the central
office are local offices of
supervision and control, which
ensure observance of the law by
local government bodies and by
all citizens.
19. Political Setting:
Vietnam
D. Local Government
For administrative purposes,
Vietnam is divided into 57
provinces and four cities directly
under the central government.
The provinces are further
divided into districts and then
20. Political Setting:
Vietnam
villages or communes. At each
level, voters elect people’s
councils with legislative powers.
These councils in turn elect a
people’s committee from among
their members to serve as an
executive body. In some respects,
21. Political Setting:
Vietnam
people’s councils and people’s
committees resemble local
governments in Western
democracies. They have the right
to question decisions taken by
other governmental organs at
their level, but their decisions
.
22. Political Setting:
Vietnam
and actions are subject to review
by higher organs of government
power. Moreover, decisions by
local government organs are
normally undertaken in
accordance with the instructions
of Communist Party
.
23. Political Setting:
Vietnam
committees at that level,
although party influence has
declined somewhat since the
inception of the doi moi
(economic renovation) program
in the mid-1980s. Party
directives are circulated at the
.
24. Political Setting:
Vietnam
local level through the
Fatherland Front, a mass
association with branch offices
at all administrative levels and
among various interest groups in
the country.
31. Republic of the Philippines
CAPIZ STATE UNIVERSITY
Dumarao Satellite College, Dumarao, Capiz
Theme: “Understanding Better the Political, Economic &
Socio-Cultural
Settings of Southeast Asian Nations for
Peace, Prosperity & People”
May 25, 2015 (8:00-11:30 am)
Campus Library