In the late 1980s, most of the world still associated Vietnam with resistance and war, hardship, refugees, and a mismanaged planned economy. During the 1990s, by contrast, major countries began to see Vietnam as both a potential partner and a strategically significant actor - particularly in the competition between the United States and an emerging China-and international investors began to see Vietnam as a land of opportunity. Vietnam remains a Leninist party-state ruled by the Communist Party of Vietnam that has reconciled the supposedly irreconcilable: a one-party system and a market-based economy linked to global value chains. For the Party stability is crucial and, recently, increasing economic openness has been combined with growing political control and repression.

In this seminar, three authors of the book Vietnam: Navigating a Rapidly Changing Economy, Society, and Political Order (2023)  will discuss how we can understand Vietnam's current socio-political and economic situation and recent changes .

• Ari Kokko, Professor at Copenhagen Business School.
• Börje  Ljunggren, Senior associate fellow at the Swedish Institute of International Affairs, and former Swedish ambassador to China (2002-06) and Vietnam (1994-97)
• Helle Rydström, Professor, Department of Gender Studies, Lund University.

Moderator: Magnus Jerneck, Professor, Department of Political Science, Lund University.