Title: Post-war Vietnam
Headings: Post-war Vietnam
Post-war Vietnam
Contents
A new nation
Problems and obstacles
Purges and ‘re-education’
Economic challenges
Socialist policies
Land reform and agrarian policy
Food shortages
The 1980s reforms
Recent developments

Content: These reforms, broadly called doi moi (‘renovation’), allowed for new development, an increase in growth and an improvement in living standards. They were not accompanied by political reforms, with Vietnam remaining a staunch one-party socialist state. Since 1986, Vietnam has progressed in a similar fashion to China, its economic policies becoming increasingly capitalist and market-oriented, though tempered by socialist controls. In 1989 Hanoi withdrew its troops from Cambodia, which allowed it to reenter the international fold. Since then, Vietnam has sought and received foreign aid, as well as becoming a member-state of the World Bank, International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN). Vietnam’s relationship with the United States began to thaw in the early 1990s, with Washington eventually lifting a trade embargo (1994) and restoring diplomatic relations (1995). Recent developments
In recent years, Vietnam has been one of the world’s fastest-growing economies. It has become a significant agricultural exporter, the third-largest oil producer in Asia and an important manufacturer of clothing, textiles and computer components. Vietnam’s population has grown rapidly and now exceeds 85 million people, more than double its population in 1965 (39 million). Vietnamese society contains considerable poverty and wide divisions in income and wealth, though this is slowly improving.