AbstractsPolitical Science

This paper examines the relationship between political freedom and sustainable development in the Vietnam. Sustainable development is becoming a highly influential concept in the development debate. Especially in fast developing countries like Vietnam the importance of combining rapid growth and expanding production with sustainable considerations. Additionally the importance of political freedom of the people is highly influencing the focus and actual implementation of sustainable development and how civil society are important actors in this regard. To assess the sustainable development in Vietnam and role of political freedom, a comparative analysis will be conducted by using the main conclusions from the report “Implementation of Sustainable Development in Vietnam”, which is an evaluation of the implementation of sustainable development in Vietnam in the past 20 years. To challenge the perceptions of this report data from Freedom House, Human Development Index, Environmental Performance Index and other data will be included to assess the environmental and political situation in Vietnam. This will be done through a short evaluation and discussion of the concept of sustainable development followed by an assessment of the changes in social development, environmental protection and economic growth, which are the three pillars of sustainable development. To evaluate the role of political freedom Amartya Sen’s theory of development as freedom will be the main theoretical component in the analysis and the role of civil society will be included as well. The concept of the developmental state will be used to explain the interests and actions of the Vietnamese state. Furthermore the role of political freedom and involvement of civil society in ensuring sustainable development internationally will be discussed. The conclusion of the paper is that Vietnam has had great success in some areas and is perceived to be a developmental miracle. For Vietnam to maintain their growth and development they need to change their focus and work towards more sustainable development. To accomplish this the Vietnamese state need to understand the importance of civil society and political freedom, since these two aspects are main elements. Sustainable development is very important for the Vietnamese government in the sense that a decreasing economic growth will challenge their legitimacy and with increase sustainable growth and better conditions for the population, this could be another way for the Vietnamese government to maintain legitimacy.