Vietnam and COVID-19: More Mark (Zuckerberg) than Marx

Vietnam’s success (so far) in responding to COVID-19 reflects both government and social resilience:

• Politically and practically effective official responses, led from the top, with adaptive coherence of government actions at all levels; and
• Popular criticism and acceptance, and so authentic authorisation of those responses.

Vietnam is widely seen as ruled by a strong authoritarian regime. But there is much evidence that its population is increasingly unruly, does not, as a matter of course, see the regime as legitimate, and that the Vietnamese state does not possess, as a matter of course, a high degree of internal discipline. Corruption is widespread and Party members cannot be investigated by state bodies without the approval of the appropriate Party body.