Vietnam

Vietnam has experienced huge political and economic development since the war. "Vietnam: Anatomy of a Peace" argues that victory in 1975 caught the Communists wholly unprepared to cope with the reconstruction of the war-torn nation. After 1986, confused and vulnerable to promises of aid, the Communists began to accept International Monetary Fund guidance and embarked on market reforms. The IMF achieved what American military power could not, and the Communists began irresistibly to abandon their social ideology. Gabriel Kolko looks at the main economic phases the Communists have embarked upon since 1986 and describes the loosening of socialist ideology and outlines the transition to nascent capitalism.
Based on extensive research and over 30 years first hand experience, "Vietnam: Anatomy of a Peace" is a vivid portrait of Vietnam today and a timely examination of developing economies in Asia. Market reforms are producing serious social and economic difficulties in Vietnam; inequality has created a divided class society and industrial workers are among the most exploited in the world. In light of these problems, Kolko outlines how Communists are coping with the contradictions between daily realities and their original idealistic aims.
Kolko argues that neither an intentional socialist nor a market strategy have determined recent Vietnamese history and that the Communist has little control over development during peace time. After successfully confronting both France and the United States in war, the Communists are now close to losing the cause for which they fought.