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Vietnam THE SYSTEM OF GOVERNMENT
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Figure 15. National Government Structure, 1987
Constitutional Evolution
The communist party-controlled government of Vietnam has
ruled under three state constitutions. The first was promulgated
in 1946, the second in 1959, and the third in 1980.
Significantly, each was created at a milestone in the evolution
of the VCP, and each bore the mark of its time.
The purpose of the 1946 constitution was essentially to
provide the communist regime with a democratic appearance. The
newly established government of the Democratic Republic of
Vietnam (DRV) was sensitive about its communist sponsorship, and
it perceived democratic trappings as more appealing to
noncommunist nationalists and less provocative to French
negotiators. Even though such guarantees were never intended to
be carried out, the constitution provided for freedom of speech,
the press, and assembly. The document remained in effect in Viet
Minh-controlled areas throughout the
First Indochina War (1946-54--see Glossary) and in
North Vietnam following partition in
1954, until it was replaced with a new constitution in 1959.
The second constitution was explicitly communist in
character. Its preamble described the DRV as a "people's
democratic state led by the working class," and the document
provided for a nominal separation of powers among legislative,
executive, and judicial branches of government. On paper, the
legislative function was carried out by the National Assembly.
The assembly was empowered to make laws and to elect the chief
officials of the state, such as the president (who was largely a
symbolic head of state), the vice president, and cabinet
ministers. Together those elected (including the president and
vice president) formed a Council of Ministers, which
constitutionally (but not in practice) was subject to supervision
by the Standing Committee of the National Assembly. Headed by a
prime minister, the council was the highest executive organ of
state authority. Besides overseeing the Council of Ministers, the
assembly's Standing Committee also supervised on paper the
Supreme People's Court, the chief organ of the judiciary. The
assembly's executive side nominally decided on national economic
plans, approved state budgets, and acted on questions of war or
peace. In reality, however, final authority on all matters rested
with the Political Bureau.
The reunification of North and South Vietnam (the former
Republic of Vietnam) in 1976 provided the primary motivation for
revising the 1959 constitution. Revisions were made along the
ideological lines set forth at the Fourth National Congress of
the VCP in 1976, emphasizing popular sovereignty and promising
success in undertaking "revolutions" in production, science and
technology, culture, and ideology. In keeping with the underlying
theme of a new beginning associated with reunification, the
constitution also stressed the need to develop a new political
system, a new economy, a new culture, and a new socialist person.
The 1959 document had been adopted during the tenure of Ho
Chi Minh and demonstrated a certain independence from the Soviet
model of state organization. The 1980 Constitution was drafted
when Vietnam faced a serious threat from China, and political and
economic dependence on the Soviet Union had increased. Perhaps,
as a result, the completed document resembles the 1977 Soviet
Constitution.
The 1980 Vietnamese Constitution concentrates power in a
newly established Council of State much like the Presidium of the
Supreme Soviet, endowing it nominally with both legislative and
executive powers. Many functions of the legislature remain the
same as under the 1959 document, but others have been transferred
to the executive branch or assigned to both branches
concurrently. The executive branch appears strengthened overall,
having gained a second major executive body, the Council of
State, and the importance of the National Assembly appears to
have been reduced accordingly. The role of the Council of
Ministers, while appearing on paper to have been subordinated to
the new Council of State, in practice retained its former primacy
(see
Council of State;
Council of Ministers
, this ch.;
table 12, Appendix A).
Among the innovative features of the 1980 document is the
concept of "collective mastery" of society, a frequently used
expression attributed to the late party secretary, Le Duan (1908-
1986). The concept is a Vietnamese version of popular sovereignty
that advocates an active role for the people so that they may
become their own masters as well as masters of society, nature,
and the nation. It states that the people's collective mastery in
all fields is assured by the state and is implemented by
permitting the participation in state affairs of mass
organizations. On paper, these organizations, to which almost all
citizens belong, play an active role in government and have the
right to introduce bills before the National Assembly.
Another feature is the concept of socialist legality, which
dictates that "the state manage society according to law and
constantly strengthen the socialist legal system." The concept,
originally introduced at the Third National Party Congress in
1960, calls for achieving socialist legality through the state,
its organizations, and its people. Law, in effect, is made
subject to the decisions and directives of the party.
The apparent contradiction between the people's right to
active participation in government suggested by collective
mastery and the party's absolute control of government dictated
by "socialist legality" is characteristic of communist political
documents in which rights provided the citizenry often are
negated by countermeasures appearing elsewhere in the document.
Vietnam's constitutions have not been guarantors, therefore, of
the rights of citizens or of the separation and limitation of
powers. They have been intended instead to serve the partycontrolled regime.
The 1980 Constitution comprises 147 articles in 12 chapters
dealing with numerous subjects, including the basic rights and
duties of citizens. Article 67 guarantees the citizens' rights to
freedom of speech, the press, assembly, and association, and the
freedom to demonstrate. Such rights are, nevertheless, subject to
a caveat stating "no one may misuse democratic freedoms to
violate the interests of the state and the people." With this
stipulation, all rights are conditionally based upon the party's
interpretation of what constitutes behavior in the state's and
people's interest.
Data as of December 1987
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