State versus Capital: The Regulation of the Vietnamese Foreign Sector

The debate over globalisation and the state has been sharpened by the emergence of such transitional economies as China and Vietnam. These states have become the subject of considerable attention, both in terms of the form that production is taking and the manner in which they interact with international capital. In both cases, interaction with international capital and the establishment of elements of the market economy have taken place under the auspices of highly centralised single party states. The resulting approach to the forces of economic globalisation has been both highly interventionist and, at times, extremely heavy-handed. As such, both countries may be seen as being seriously out of step with the advocates of liberalisation and economic globalisation. This paper seeks to further the understanding of the position of such states through an examination of Vietnam at two levels: first, through an overview of the distinctive and changing nature of the interaction and, second, through an examination of the nature and consequences of the differential treatment of labour and capital for foreign companies operating in Vietnam.