Vol 5, No 1 (2021)

Maritime space is not a newly discovered domain but it has become increasingly significant in both security and development for many countries, including Vietnam. The territorial disputes over the South China Sea (in Vietnam they call it the East Sea) highlight this fact. The seas and ocean are of strategic importance for Vietnam also due to the increase in awareness, need and capacity. The marine economy strategy of Vietnam until 2030, vision until 2045 shows that Vietnam considers the maritime domain a critical component of its overall national strategic space. This article provides an analysis with respect to the content, the drivers, and the significance and genealogy of the strategy. A key finding out of the analytical process is that Vietnam has chosen to give priority to the role of the seas and oceans, because Hanoi understands the importance to keep up with the times. Also, the outcome of the marine economy strategy shows a remarkable improvement of Hanoi’s ability in strategic planning, which is embodied in the interdisciplinary and cross-cutting approach that was taken. The emphasis on the economic pillar of the strategy constitutes a critical part of the overall strategy of the country as far as the seas and oceans are concerned, and is in line with the strategic measures in the areas of defense and security.

After more than 35 years since the Economic Reform in 1986, Vietnam has been one of the countries experiencing high economic growth rate in the region and in the world. However, Vietnam’s economic growth is still largely dependent on resource-intensive factors, by which the growth quality has not been taken into consideration seriously. Vietnam has entered a new era of development from 2021 to 2030 as a lower- middle income country and faced challenges of strategies implementation for catching-up as well as overcoming the middle-income trap. The paper applied the best method using data from General Statistics Office (GSO) revealed that Vietnam’s economic growth during the renovation period was quite high but the quality of growth was still low. The author assumes that in desire to avoid the middle-income trap Vietnam needs to improve the quality of growth.

The hypothesis that the first official Emperor of the Tran dynasty (1226-1440) in Dai Viet was not Tran Canh, but his father Tran Thua and that the fact was carefully tabooed in Vietnamese traditional historiography, was suggested by Russian researchers D.V. Deopik and A.B. Polyakov in the 1970-ies. In its final variant their version of the events of the early 13th century was published in “Vietnamskie issledovanija” (Russian Journal of Vietnamese Studies) 2018, № 2. Meanwhile, the arguments, given in their article in favor of the hypothesis are still questionable; that is why this article has been written.

The article presents an attempt of deconstructing a Vietnamese spirit medium as a function of the Mother Religion in order to analyze it as a discursive subject, informed into varies ritual practices that involve non-human agency. The research is based on a discourse-analytical model by Potter and Wetherell, developed for studying socio-psychological functions of the discourse and the ways people perform discursive acts to construct their own identities and to use them for achieving their speech tasks. The analysis of in-depth interviews with a practicing medium reveals a number of interpretative repertoires that are built around key lexicalizations, explaining different aspects of medium’s experience and allowing to find out which social functions are related to the application of chosen discursive resources.

This publication reviews the collective monograph of Russian and Vietnamese scholars, dedicated to the 130th anniversary of Ho Chi Minh. The book consisting of five parts discusses the issues connected with practical activities and ideology of the first President of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam. The authors - 12 Russians and 37 Vietnamese - have analyzed the causes that led to Vietnam’s liberation of French colonizers’ power and the role of Ho Chi Minh as the chief ideologist and a practical manager. Also, they have shown Ho Chi Minh’s role in the foundation of the Communist Party of Vietnam, in the building of new culture, ethics and humanism in Vietnam. The final part describes Ho Chi Minh’s role in formation of Vietnamese independent foreign policy.