Although the adoption of market reforms has been a key factor leading to China’s recent economic growth, China continues to be governed by a communist party and has a socialist-influenced legal system. Vietnam, starting later, also with a socialist-influenced legal system, has followed a similar reform path, and other countries too are now looking towards China and Vietnam as models for development. This book provides a comprehensive, comparative assessment of legal developments in China and Vietnam, examining similarities and differences, and raising important questions such as: Is there a distinctive Chinese model, and/or a more general East Asian Model? If so, can it be flexibly applied to social and economic conditions in different countries? If it cannot be applied to a culturally and politically similar country like Vietnam, is the model transportable elsewhere in the world? Combining ‘micro’ or interpretive methods with ‘macro’ or structural traditions, the book provides a nuanced account of legal reforms in China and Vietnam, highlighting the factors likely to promote, change or resist the spread of the Chinese model.

The immense process of economic and social transformation currently underway in China and Vietnam is well known and extensively documented. However, less attention has been devoted to the process of Chinese and Vietnamese legal change which is nonetheless critical for the future politics, society and economy of these two countries. In a unique comparative approach that brings together indigenous and international experts, Asian Socialism and Legal Change analyzes recent developments in the legal sphere in China and Vietnam. This book presents the diversity and dynamism of this process in China and Vietnam-the impact of socialism, constitutionalism and Confucianism on legal development; responses to change among enterprises and educational and legal institutions; conflicts between change led centrally and locally; and international influences on domestic legal institutions. Core socialist ideas continue to shape society, but have been adapted to local contexts and needs, in some areas more radically than in others. This book is the first systematic analysis of legal change in transitional economies.

This book provides a comprehensive, comparative assessment of legal developments in China and Vietnam, examining similarities and differences, and highlighting the factors likely to promote, change or resist the spread of the Chinese model.

This first book to consider land reform in both countries show that reform, as the Communists have conducted it, can be justified in China and North Vietnam for both economic reasons and ideological imperatives. Moise argues that the violence associated with land reform was as much a function of the social inequities that preceded reform as it was of the reform policy itself and explains the difficulties the Communist leaders encountered in developing a successful program. Originally published in 1983. A UNC Press Enduring Edition -- UNC Press Enduring Editions use the latest in digital technology to make available again books from our distinguished backlist that were previously out of print. These editions are published unaltered from the original, and are presented in affordable paperback formats, bringing readers both historical and cultural value.

China's People's Liberation Army (PLA) has embarked on its most wide-ranging and ambitious restructuring since 1949, including major changes to most of its key organizations. The restructuring reflects the desire to strengthen PLA joint operation capabilities- on land, sea, in the air, and in the space and cyber domains. The reforms could result in a more adept joint warfighting force, though the PLA will continue to face a number of key hurdles to effective joint operations, Several potential actions would indicate that the PLA is overcoming obstacles to a stronger joint operations capability. The reforms are also intended to increase Chairman Xi Jinping's control over the PLA and to reinvigorate Chinese Communist Party (CCP) organs within the military. Xi Jinping's ability to push through reforms indicates that he has more authority over the PLA than his recent predecessors. The restructuring could create new opportunities for U.S.-China military contacts.

Legal Reform in the Contemporary Socialist World explores four decades of legal reform in the socialist countries of China, Vietnam, Laos, North Korea, and Cuba from a comparative perspective. Spanning the late 1970s to the present, it examines various projects, methods, strategies, contents, driving forces, and limitations of legislative reform, administrative reform, judicial reform, and reform of the legal profession. Legal reform in these countries is the project of the political elite to improve the legal system while retaining its core socialist principles. It is carried out through legislative enactments, amendments, and replacements, which the political elite adopt using incremental strategies to reform the legal system sporadically or systematically. Socialist legal reform is animated by the political aspiration to create the rule of law, the impact of social-economic change, and the influence of transnational and comparative law. Despite significant reforms, the socialist principles of the legal systems in these countries largely remain intact. This legal reform, however, varies considerably by country. Legal Reform in the Contemporary Socialist World offers a holistic view of understudied jurisdictions in comparative law, essential for anyone studying or working in these areas in law, politics, or policy.

A fresh perspective on socialist law as practiced in China and Vietnam, two major socialist states.