VALUE SURVEYS ON DEMOCRACY AND MARKET IN VIETNAM 1

Transcription

1 VALUE SURVEYS ON DEMOCRACY AND MARKET IN VIETNAM 1 Pham Minh Hac Pham Thanh Nghi Democracy and the market economy are two striking achievements of mankind s civilization, especially in the th century. These are also mutually related important driving forces leading the world to the current level of progress. It has been briefly stated: Democracy and market are like two wheels of a carriage (Kim Dae-jung, 1). They are also the subjects of discussion for many conferences, essays and articles. In February 1999, a conference was held in Seoul on Democracy, Market Economy and Development. Just three months ago, in December 3, another conference was held in Taiwan on How East Asians View Democracy: the Region in Global Perspective. Today, a conference is being held on the same subject. We are certain that this conference will contribute to the process of democratization and market development in the region. It can be stated that democratization and marketization are two issues of most concern in East and South East Asian countries and Authoritarianism remains a fierce competitor in East Asia (Yun-han Chu, Yu-tzung Chang, Hu Fu, 3). Together with peace, sovereignty, national independence, and a sustainable environment, the ideal of democracy is becoming a highly prioritized value of our time. Democratization and market development are the two largest trends facing almost every developing nation the world over, and Vietnam is not an exception. We completely share the opinion that the long-term evolution of political and economic reforms in East Asia will be linked to support for political and economic systems among their citizens and that the course of development in this region leans toward the strengthening of democracy and market economics (Dalton and Shin, 4). 1 Paper presented at the conference, "Citizens, Democracy and Markets around the Pacific Rim" The East West Center, Honolulu, March 19-, 4 Director, Institute of Human Studies, Vietnam Academy of Social Sciences. Deputy Director., Institute of Human Studies, Vietnam Academy of Social Sciences. 1

2 Democracy and Market in Vietnam The democratic era in Vietnam began after the August Revolution (August 19 th, 1945) regaining sovereignty for the country, freedom for the people, and giving birth to a republican democracy for the first time, with a National Assembly by which constitutions were adopted thus affirming the domestic power held wholly by the Vietnamese people. In the Declaration of Independence (September 2 nd, 1945) by President Ho Chi Minh, a segment was quoted from the 1776 Declaration of Independence of the United States: all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. These ideals of democracy have been pursued by Vietnamese people for more than half a century and were an extremely important motivation in creating our nation s history in the second half of the th century. Such ideals are manifested in the 1946 Constitution and in its revised versions (1959, 198, 1992). The current Constitution (1992) has 33 articles (from 49 to 82) providing basic rights and obligations of the citizen including rights of voting, candidacy, freedom of speech, freedom of press, rights of information, freedom of belief and religion. The Constitution also confirms that Vietnam is a state of the people, by the people and for the people as stated by Abraham Lincoln. At dawn of the 21 st century, the process of democratization apparently has been strengthened. In 1991, the slogan followed by the whole country was prosperous people, strong nation, just and civilized society. Since 1 the slogan has been restated as prosperous people, strong nation, just, democratic, and civilized society. There have been many regulations revised with more openness and transparency, such as a law of voting People s Councils at communes, districts, provinces revised to expand democracy and to build a Legislative State. It is necessary to mention the Decrees No 29 (May 1998), No 71 (September 1998) and No 12 (April 1999) promulgated by the Vietnamese Government to implement democracy in localities (communes, institutions, enterprises) in order to do away with the breach of people s power found in many places and to eliminate bureaucracy, authoritarianism, corruption, and extortion so troublesome for the people. These documents identify: (1) things that authorities at all levels have to inform citizens about; (2) things citizens are to discuss and decide; (3) things citizens are to discuss and make recommendations about; (4) things citizens are to supervise and inspect. The assessment of five years implementation of these Decrees at the commune level shows that these juridical documents have brought fresh air into the social life, raised the people s awareness of 2

3 democracy, expanded participatory democracy providing a new benchmark in the democratization of the society, raised social capital, promoted development in economic, cultural and social aspects of communes (Dang Xuan Ky, 4), contributed greatly to political and social stabilization and economic growth, accelerated the process of developing a civil society, and affirmed that real democracy is an extremely important factor in the country s development. Vietnam is still a poor agricultural country with backward economic and technological foundations (economic structure with 22.2% of agriculture, 39.% of industry and 38.8% of service), and low social development, heavily damaged by long lasting wars. Moreover, Vietnam has been affected also by dogmatism, subjectivism, voluntarism, and centrally controlled and subsidized patterns of economy. In early 199s, the objective of the existence of goods production and market was affirmed. There has been a transformation to a multi-sectoral economy with various forms of ownership. The law of values is observed, prices are liberated, both individual and collective interests are respected, and human development and culture are considered as objective and driving forces for socio-economic development. Coming into the 21 st century, Vietnam officially declared building the market economy with socialist orientation and consistently following it as a coherent strategic direction (Nguyen Phu Trong, 3). At present, components of the market such as capital market, real estate market, labor market, etc. have been shaped and obviously have shown their positive effects. The process of democratization in economic life has brought about dramatic results. Democratization and market development were the two major components forming the Renovation (doi moi) policy in December After seventeen years of this policy implementation, the country has apparently changed and the lives of the people have been improved significantly. A survey of living standards in Ho Chi Minh City in 1996 indicated that 86.5 percent of the respondents agreed that their living standards were improved significantly compared with those in 199 (Pham Minh Hac, 1994, 3). GDP per capita was 6 USD in 199, increasing to 4 USD in. The Report on Millennium Goals: eliminating the millennium distance by the United Nations in Vietnam published on February 8, 4 states: Vietnam has been achieving impressive results in the process of implementing the millennium development goals; remarkably decreasing the poverty proportion from 7 percent in the middle of the 8s to 6 percent in 199 and 29 percent in 2. From 1992 to 3, million of people got out of famine and poverty. 3

4 As an important index of democracy, gender equality has improved steadily since Literacy rate among women under age of 4 reached an impressive level (94 percent) and the rate of female/male students in high schools increased from 86 percent to 93 percent during , while that rate in universities increased from 56 percent to 8 percent; the female ratio in the National Assembly is 27 percent, the highest index among countries in the Asia- Pacific Regions. The Vietnam gender development index (GDI) reached.687, ranking 89 among 144 countries. Democratization in education has been implemented successfully in Vietnam since As a result, the literacy rate has increased from 5 percent in 1945 to 96 percent in 3 and the literacy rate among young people (aged 6-25) has increased to 96.7 percent. The universalization of primary education was completed in and compulsory education has been extended to the secondary education level. The total number of high school students in age cohort (12 to 18 years old) is 55,1 percent (Pham Minh Hac, 1). These achievements have brought about an increase in Vietnam s Human Development Index of,671 ranking 8 among 174 countries in, and,688 ranking 9 among 175 countries in 3 (UNDP, 3). Vietnam is now putting forth efforts to achieve a median rank in. It can be said that the above mentioned figures were achieved thanks to the renovation, open door and integration policies, in which democratization and market development play a significant role. Besides these achievements, Vietnam is facing challenges, for instance, the gap between the rich and the poor groups increased from 8 to times, between different provinces and cities about 7 times, between minority and major ethnic groups, and the inequality in expenses indicated by Gini index gradually increased (.33 in 1993,.35 in 1998, and.37 in 2). Gini per income is.42 and per non-food expenses is.49 (Gini indicating absolute equality, 1 absolute inequality). The general goal is to develop Vietnam as a peaceful, civilized, prosperous, just, democratic nation and to make everyone and every family happy. Data collected in value surveys, especially the World Values Survey 1, have shown that the majority of the respondents support the process of democratization and market development in Vietnam. Findings from Values Surveys on Democracy and Market Since 1991, the State Research Program KX-7 entitled Human development is the objective and driving force for social-economic development ( ) has conducted surveys on 4

5 value system, value scale, value measures and value orientations. In -1, the Institute of Human Studies took part in the World Values Survey (WVS) which was carried out in 96 countries and territories under unified forms and methodology. The initial outcomes of the survey conducted in Vietnam were announced by Vietnamese and American researchers at the International Meeting on World Values Survey held in Stellenbosch, South Africa in October 1 and published in the International Journal of Comparative Sociology (Dalton et al., 2) and Vietnam s Human Studies (Pham Minh Hac & Pham Thanh Nghi, 2; 3). Inheriting the success of the KX-7 and WVS -1, the State Research Program KX-5 (1-4) conducted a survey on value orientations in 3 with six groups of respondents. The Institute of Human Studies was also selected to conduct a survey on openness and globalization in Vietnam for a project at the Glasgow University, Scotland. This research seeks to describe and analyze Vietnamese attitudes towards democracy and market and compare these findings to those from East Asia (China and Japan), North America (the U.S. and Canada), Africa (Nigeria) and South America (Argentina). The illustrations in this paper are taken from data released in the World Value Survey conducted in Vietnam and statistics collected from similar surveys in other nations in the -1 wave. In addition, data collected by the State Research Program KX-5 in 3 are also analyzed to support conclusions based on WVS data. Attitudes towards Democracy The results of the World Value Survey in 1 show that the Vietnamese place very high confidence in democratic values. They give full support for social democratization, namely the inclusion of democracy into the goal of the country development. As many as 62.6 percent of the interviewees expressed high satisfaction and 33.9 percent showed moderate satisfaction. In other words, as many as 96.5 percent said they were satisfied with the country's goal of democracy. Referring to the democratic political system, many were concerned about the efficiency of economic activities, the determination of the government or the weakness of the social order. Nevertheless, Vietnamese people s opinion indicated that they were fairly confident in the efficiency of democratic systems. With regard to the efficiency of economic system, only

6 percent of the respondents agreed that there exists the weakness of the economy in a democratic regime and the rest believed in the efficiency of the economy under a democratic system. The proportion of people responding to the survey in China, Japan, the U.S. and Canada agreeing to the idea that the economy in democratic systems is poorly managed was a little higher than that in Vietnam (Figure 1). This means that Vietnamese people evaluate the market economy more optimistically than the publics from these other countries. Figure 1. Attitude towards the Economy s Performance in Democratic Systems Vietnam China Japan The U.S Canada Agree that the economy in democratic systems is poorly managed The Vietnamese also have a quite rosy outlook on the determination of democratic systems. Only.8 percent of the interviewees agreed that democratic systems lack determination in resolving social problems. Meanwhile, the proportion of respondents agreeing on that point in East Asian countries (China and Japan) was much higher than was recorded in Vietnam. In Canada, as many as 5 percent agreed that democratic systems were not decisive in resolving social problems (Figure 2). 6

7 Figure 2. Attitude towards the Lack of Determination of Democratic Systems Vietnam China Japan The U.S Canada Agree that democratic systems lack determination When commenting on social order in democratic countries, only one-quarter of the respondents in Vietnam agreed that order in democratic systems was not well maintained. This proportion of agreement was higher than that recorded in China, Japan and the U.S. but lower than in Canada (Figure 3). This means that the Vietnamese are more optimistic about keeping order in a democratic system than other nations, except Canada in this comparison. Figure 3. Attitude towards Order in Democratic Systems Vietnam China Japan The U.S Canada Agree that democratic systems do not keep order well When giving overall assessment of a democratic mechanism, most of the respondents in Vietnam (72.7 percent) considered that democracy was the best form of government (Figure 4). The proportion of those agreeing to this idea in China, Japan, the U.S., Canada and Argentina was much higher. 7

8 Figure 4. Attitude towards the Best Form of Government Vietnam China Japan The U.S Canada Argentina Nigeria Agree that the democratic system has problem but is still better than any other form of government The belief of people and realities of life at times may be different. Although Argentina used to face a serious crisis, the people placed absolute confidence in the democratic system of the country. In Nigeria, the confidence in a democratic system was especially low compared with that in other countries with merely 53.2 percent of the respondents saying that the democratic system had problems but was still considered a good type of governance. When making general comments on the role of the democratic political system, people in different countries had the same positive attitudes. The respondents in Vietnam highly valued the democratic political system percent of the respondents said the democratic political system was very good and 36.6 percent said the system was rather good and only 4.5 percent thought the system operated poorly or very poorly. Thus, in Vietnam, 95.5 percent of the respondents considered that the democratic political system has a positive role. The Chinese valued the democratic political system a bit less with only 73.3 percent of the respondents saying that the democratic political system was very good or rather good. Many more Vietnamese (59.9 percent of the respondents) considered that democratic political system was very good compared with that in China (15.9 percent of the respondents). People from Japan, the United States, Canada and Argentina highly valued the democratic political system. Particularly in Nigeria, the democratic political system was very highly valued (Figure 5). From WVS data, it could be said that democratic aspirations in Vietnam were among the highest in the nations selected for comparison in this paper. 8

9 Figure 5. Attitude towards the Democratic Political System Vietnam China Japan The U.S Canada Argentina Nigeria Democratic political system is very good Democratic political system is rather good Concerning the respect for individual human rights as an indicator of human rights, respondents in Vietnam said that individual human rights were much respected in society. According to four levels, that is, a lot of respect for individual human rights, some respect, not much respect, and not respect at all, with the exception of Argentina where most of the respondents believed that individual human rights were not much respected and not respected at all, a majority of the respondents in Vietnam, China, Japan, the U.S., Canada and Nigeria chose "a lot of respect" and "some respect" (Figure 6). The proportion of the Vietnamese respondents choosing a lot of respect is much higher than that in other nations. Working class respondents expressed more optimistic views on respect for human rights (95 percent chose a lot respect and some respect ) compared with the middle class respondents (88.5 percent chose a lot respect and some respect ). As seen in Figure 6, most of the respondents in Vietnam indicated that their individual human rights were much respected while a high proportion of people in China, Japan, the U.S., Canada and Nigeria said individual human rights received moderate respect. This indicates that Vietnamese people believe their individual human rights are entirely guaranteed in the current political regime. The same question on human rights was included in the 3 KX-5 survey; 41.2 percent of 662 workers and farmers agreed that their rights were fully respected, 49.3 percent of the respondents said that the rights were respected partly and 7.8 percent declared their rights were not respected at all. Although this figure was a bit less optimistic compared with that in WVS 1, the opinions of the respondents still strongly confirmed that civil rights were generally respected in Vietnam. 9

10 Figure 6. The Level of Respect for Individual Human Rights Vietnam China Japan The U.S Canada Argentina Nigeria A lot of respect Some respect Not much respect Not respect at all In order to implement the right to freedom and democracy, any society must have a democratic mechanism, respect its citizens opinions so that everyone has the right to speak out and the government must listen to public opinion. However, the right to democracy is not always fully used if not everyone is aware of their civil rights. It depends a great deal on awareness, attitude and responsibility of people to realize their rights. Culture also exerts a great impact on the implementation of civil rights in democratic systems. Confucian philosophy, for example, requires people to obey unconditionally the parents and the authority. Listening to elders was considered as an appropriate conduct code in Eastern cultures. When asked whether they unconditionally obeyed instructions from their superiors at work or were to be persuaded before obedience or it depended on the particular situation, a large proportion (46.2 percent) of the Vietnamese interviewees said that they unconditionally obeyed, 4 percent of them thought that they should be first persuaded before following instructions and only 13.8 percent said their decision depended on particular situations. In the United States and Canada, the number of respondents chose immediate obedience was the largest. The difference in the mass attitude of these countries shows that instructions are highly observed in the U.S.,

11 Canada, Nigeria and Vietnam. Meanwhile, a high proportion of Chinese people wanted to understand before obeying instructions (Figure 7). There is no connection between culture characteristics and obedience in this respect. Figure 7. Attitude towards Instructions in the Workplace Vietnam China Japan The U.S Canada Argentina Nigeria 12.3 Unconditional obedience Understanding first Dependence on situation When taking into account prioritized objectives in national development, besides the goal of economic development which was especially highly valued by the Vietnamese respondents, the aim of seeing that people have more say about the management of the country and community was equally ranked with other aims of making our cities and the countryside beautiful and making sure this country has strong defense forces. In China, the aim of seeing that people have more say was listed at the bottom while strengthening national defense and security was ranked right behind the goal of economic development. In Japan, the U.S., Canada and Argentina, the aim of having more say was listed right after the goal of economic development (Figure 8). The respondents from Japan, the U.S., Canada and Argentina highly valued the goal of increasing the participation of the people in social management, while Vietnamese and Chinese respondents have not highly valued the participation of the people in the management of the country and community. In this regard the upper and middle class respondents in Vietnam have similar attitudes to respondents in Japan, the U.S., Canada and Argentina. Economic growth was put in the first place by 71.3 the percent of upper and middle class respondents; people have more say was put in the first place by 15 the percent of upper and middle class respondents; and country has strong defense forces was put on the first place with only 7.2 percent of the respondents. Wealthy people in Vietnam 11

12 would like to see a society where people have more chance to participate in making decisions at the workplace and in the community. We may say that with the improvement of living standards, people will become more aware of their right to take part in decision making. Figure 8. Assessment of National Goals Vietnam China Japan The U.S Canada Argentina Nigeria Economic development Greater participation from the people Strong armed forces Beautiful country and homeland With respect to the situation in the country, the 3 State Research Program KX-5 survey shows that 68.4 percent of 662 workers and farmers interviewed strongly agreed that the political situation in the country was stable, 28.1 percent of the respondents partly agreed and only 3.5 percent of the respondents disagreed or had no opinion. 92 percent of the respondents agreed that democracy has been expanded to all aspects of the social life, 6.6 percent of the respondents disagreed and 1.4 percent had no opinion. Democracy can be an elastic term used by people in Vietnam and Western nations (Dalton and Shin, 4), but one can not refuse the reality which has been created by the late 198s economic reform and in which Vietnamese people are enjoying political stability and democratization in their political and social lives. With regard to the direction of the country in the future, 86.1 percent of the students interviewed said that strengthening economic renovation and stabilizing the political situation in 12

13 the country toward socialist goals were a correct choice for Vietnam at present; only 12.3 percent of the respondents did not know what to say, and very small proportion of the students (1.6 percent) interviewed said this direction was not correct for the country to go further. The improvement of the economic and social situations in the country has positive impact on the people s attitude toward political systems and satisfaction with the political regime. The results of WVS (-1) also show that the Vietnamese people highly assessed the present political system compared to that years ago percent of the respondents scaled the present political system as good to very good, while the political system ten years ago received positive assessment by only 84 percent of the respondents. In brief, it can be said that high democratic aspirations were found among the Vietnamese respondents and people s satisfaction with the process of democratization undertaken now in the country is very high. This means that democracy in Vietnam at present is taking a form that is appropriate to cultural characteristics, awareness and expectations of people in this country. Attitudes towards the Market For more than a decade, along with opening up to the world, Vietnam has been carrying out economic reforms directed at the market mechanism. On the one hand, this has taken the country out of crisis and generated new impetus for development. On the other hand, this has widened the gap between the rich and the poor and posed increasingly severe social problems. There exist two trends of attitudes, that is, one advocates more thorough market development and the other the maintenance of state centralized control over the economy. The results of values surveys conducted in Vietnam since 1993 show that the majority of the respondents supported the first trend. The trend of strengthening a market mechanism with socialist orientations has grown stronger and stronger, which is reflected in the attitudes of not only managers and in academic circles but also of common people. Since the market mechanism has not affected the society for long and although the interviewees in Vietnam and China render rather firm support to private ownership, this trend still looks more fragile than in Japan, the U.S. and Canada (Figure 9). 13

14 Figure 9. Attitude towards Private Ownership Vietnam China Japan The U.S Canada Argentina Increase private ownership in business and production Increase State ownership in business and production The viewpoint of income is also distinctly polarized. Most of the respondents in Vietnam believed that there should be more increase in the differences in income to provide laborers with incentive. It should be noted that respondents in Vietnam, China and Japan wished for more differences in income while the respondents in the U.S., Canada and Argentina wanted less difference in income, particularly those in Argentina who desired more equal income among everyone (Figure ). There is a significant difference in attitudes between the young and older Figure. Attitude towards the Difference in Income Vietnam China Japan The U.S Canada Argentina There should be more equal income There should be some difference in income to create motive 14

15 generations in Vietnam toward income differentiation percent of the respondents born after 1975 supported system of payment based on efforts, while there is only 58 percent the respondents born before 1975 supported this system of payment. One of characteristics of the market mechanism is free competition. The state s intervention is to create a healthy competitive environment, eliminate monopoly and establish equality among different economic sectors. The public attitude toward this issue may be different when their economic interests are vested in different economic sectors. The results yielded by the survey show that Vietnamese people provide support for free competition and think that competition is good (75.4 percent). However, this proportion is still lower than that in China and those countries with age-old market economies, with the exception of Argentina (Figure 11). Figure 11. Attitude towards Competition Vietnam China Japan The U.S Canada Argentina Competion is good Competion is bad The 3 KX-5 survey found that among 339 Vietnamese workers, 65.5 percent supported the differentiation of income, the rest were for more equal income distribution. With regard to the forms of ownership, since 1991 Vietnam has accepted the private and foreign forms of ownership and market economy and there has been a growing support for new forms of ownership. At present state-owned enterprises still play a very important role in the country s economic situation as reflected in people s attitudes. 7.5 percent of workers interviewed considered that state ownership was the most important, 11 percent of them valued collective ownership and only 18.5 percent of workers interviewed supported the private ownership. 15

16 However, there has been a great support for moving state ownership to shareholding ownership as found in the WVS -1. In general, a major goal of the domoi policy implemented since 1986 in Vietnam is to develop market economy and democratize the society. During the doimoi process, there were differing ideas about the degree to which the market should be transformed. Many people believed that it is necessary to reconsider such issues as equalization, abolition of state protection for state-run enterprises, further reduced intervention by the government into business etc. The results of the public opinion survey indicate that, in general, people support social democratization, want more speedy transition to a market economy and highly value the role of healthy competition. The issue of distribution of the fruits of labor, according to them, will be more equal if some difference in income is created to increase the motivation for individual efforts. As far as the problem of democracy is concerned, any form of democracy practiced in a country should be for the benefit of the people. Everybody agrees that democracy and human rights are not simply achieved by changes in institutions or the management of authoritative bodies. Economic development is the most important condition for the implementation of democracy and human rights. A basic human right, we would like to say, is the right to live in a politically stable society. The people s satisfaction with the way national government officials handle the country s affairs can be seen as an indicator of the suitability of democracy in the country. The democratic revolution in over the world (Huntington, 1), in which Vietnam is a part, in the era of globalization and integration truly impulses the expansion of democratization in all aspects of social life. It could be right to use Inglehart s words for Mexico s situation here to state that at present Vietnam has a stably pro-democratic political culture (Inglehart, 3). This revolution is a complicated, severe and difficult process with obstacles and prolonged struggles. It can be said that democracy likes the beauty, everyone has his individual view (Shafritz, 1993, 2). The process of democracy in a country could be fairly examined if its specific conditions are taken into consideration. 16

17 References Dalton R., Pham Minh Hac, Pham Thanh Nghi & Nhu Ngoc T. Ong. 3. Social Relations and Social Capital in Vietnam: The 1 World Values Survey. Comparative Sociology, Vol. 1, No.3-4, pp Dalton R, Doh Chull Shin. 4. Citixens, Democracy and Markets around the Pacific Rim. Abstract of Paper to be read at the Conference on WVS held in the East West Center, Honolulu, March 19-, 4. Dang Xuan Ky. 4. Thuc hien quy che dan chu o co so: Mot so van de ly luan va thuc tien. Tap chi Cong tac Tu tuong-ly luan, (Implementing Regulations on Democracy at Localities: Some Theoretical and Practical Problems. Review on Ideological and Theoretical Works, No. 1/4 Huntington S The Clash of Civilizations and the Remarking of World Order. New York: Simon & Schuster. Inglehart R. (ed.) 3. Islam, Gender, Culture, and Democracy. Kim Dae-jung. 1. Democracy, Market Economics, and Development : An Asian Perspective. World Bank (in English) 1, (World Publishing House, Hanoi, 2, in Vietnamese). Nguyen Phu Trong Kinh te thi truong dinh huong xa hoi chu nghia o Viet Nam: Quan diem va giai phap phat trien, in Chu nghia Xa hoi va Kinh te thi truong: Kinh nghiem cua Trung Quoc, Kinh nghiem cua Viet Nam. Ha Noi: NXB Chinh tri Quoc gia (Market Economy with Socialist Orientation in Vietnam: Positions and Measures for Development, in Socialism and Market Economy: Chinese and Vietnamese Experience), Hanoi, National Political Publishing House. Pham Minh Hac Van de con nguoi trong cong cuoc doi moi (Human Issues in the Process of Rennovation). Ha Noi: KX-7. Pham Minh Hac. 1. Nghien cuu Con nguoi va Nguon Nhan luc di vao Cong nghiep hoa, Hien dai hoa (Human Studies and Human Resources in the Process of Industrialization and Modernization) Hanoi: Political Publishing House. Pham Minh Hac. 3. Dieu tra Gia tri: Danh gia cao Dan chu va Quyen con nguoi o Viet Nam (Values Survey Shows High Assessment of Democracy and Human Right in Vietnam), People s Newspaper, Hanoi, August 2 nd.. Pham Minh Hac & Pham Thanh Nghi. 2. Values Orientation in Socio-Economic Transition from the Centrally Controlled Economy to the Market Economy in Vietnam. Human Studies, No. 1 (1) 2, pp Pham Minh Hac & Pham Thanh Nghi. 3. Citizen s Attitude to Democracy and Market through World Values Survey 1. Human Studies, No. 1 (4) 3, pp Collins H Dictionary, American Government and Politics. (In Vietnamese), Hanoi: Political Publishing House, 3. Yun-han Chu, Yu-tzung Chang, Hu Fu. 3. Regime Performance, Value Change and Authoritarian Detachment in Asia. Conference How East Asian View Democracy the Region in Global Perspective. Taiwan. United Nation Office in Vietnam. 3. Cac muc tieu phat trien thien nien ky Xoa bo khoang cach thien nien ky (Millennium Goals: Eliminating the millennium distance). Ha Noi,

18 WVS 1 Methodological Appendix The survey was conducted in September 1 using multi-stage area probability sample. primary sampling units were distributed to eight census regions and selected twenty provinces on a basis proportional to population. Within these provinces 99 districts were randomly selected, and two villages or town were selected from each district. In the final stage, within each sampling unit (a village or town) the interviewer conducted a designated random walk to select five households. Within a household, an adult was selected randomly on the list recording all members of the family according to their birthday. The sample consists of 1, respondents distributed proportionally throughout Vietnam to be representative of the adult population. The response rate was approximately 85 percent.. In comparison to 1999 census statistics (Central Steering Committee. ), the survey closely represents the population on several standard demographic measures: Areas Survey (%) Census (%) Survey% Census% Red River Delta years Northeast Northwest North Central Central Coast years Central Highland Southeast No edu Mekong River Delta Primary Lower sec Male Upper sec Female College KX-5 State Research Program Survey Methodological Appendix The survey was undertaken by the KX-5 State Research Program in August respondents including 36 workers, 36 farmers, 15 business people, 4 school students 7 university students and 35 academic people were selected for interviewing. The respondents were distributed proportionally to population in three regions of the country (North, Central and South). In each region, there were two provinces selected for interviewing. 18