Vietnam in 2025: Aspiration Amidst Consolidation
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2026-03-01
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Abstract
Vietnam’s 2025 reform agenda marked a sharp departure from the caution that typically precedes Party Congresses. This article argues that an unusual concentration of political authority enabled a coordinated push for ambitious administrative, territorial, economic, and governance reforms ahead of the 14th Communist Party Congress. Institutional restructuring, provincial consolidation, cadre rotation, private-sector repositioning, and large-scale infrastructure investment advanced in tandem with tighter Party discipline, expanded information control, and the continuation of intense anti-corruption enforcement. In foreign policy, Vietnam pursued strategic autonomy while navigating heightened external pressures. Together, these developments reveal a reform strategy that couples accelerated development with strengthened Party control, bearing the clear imprint of General Secretary Tô Lâm’s leadership.
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Malesky, EJ (2026). Vietnam in 2025: Aspiration Amidst Consolidation. Asian Survey, 66(2 Asia in 2025). pp. 262–276. 10.1525/as.2026.66.2.262 Retrieved from https://hdl.handle.net/10161/34662.
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Scholars@Duke
Edmund Malesky
Malesky is a specialist on Southeast Asia, particularly Vietnam. Currently, Malesky's research agenda is very much at the intersection of Comparative and International Political Economy, falling into three major categories: 1) Authoritarian political institutions and their consequences; 2) The political influence of foreign direct investment and multinational corporations; and 3) Political institutions, private business development, and formalization.
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