Regimes that are responsive to social unrest take steps to address social grievances and demands, rather than solely suppressing them. But that categorical description does not fit the behavior of the self-described communist regimes in Vietnam and China. When facing public protests triggered by official land seizures, both party-states have sometimes behaved responsively.

In Vietnam, a more responsive party-state was forged in a crucible of accommodation and constraint that distinctively affected the political trajectories of the party and the state.  In China, the party-state’s path to power was riddled with confrontations and the dominance of elite over societal interests. In this webinar, Dr. Nhu Truong will make two arguments rooted in the differing histories of the two countries to explain why, despite their many similarities, Vietnam has been more responsive, and its responsiveness has been more institutionalized than has China.

Speaker: Nhu Truong, Shorenstein Postdoctoral Fellow, Stanford University

Discussants: Stephan Haggard, Professor, School of Global Policy and Strategy, University of California San Diego

Tuong Vu, Professor and Department Head, Department of Political Science, University of Oregon

Moderator: Donald K. Emmerson, Director, Southeast Asia Program, Stanford University

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