Vietnamese Foreign Policy since Doi Moi: The Dialectic of Power and Identity

Abstract

This study explains the transition in Vietnamese foreign policy since doi moi as a process of reconstruction in Vietnamese national identity and national interest - the cognitive and motivational dispositions of Vietnamese policy behaviour. Through the employment of congruence and process tracing methods, this study explores the causes of the transitional process, identifies the power and identity dynamics of Vietnam's policy making, and examines the relations between these two kinds of influences. It concludes that while Vietnamese foreign policy since doi moi is shaped by an interplay of power and identity factors, the mainstream of this strategic transition is featured by the evolving constituents of Vietnamese national identity. Specifically, Vietnam's contemporary identity and foreign policy are constituted by Vietnamese ethno-cultural nationalism, renovated socialism and Southeast Asian regionalism, of which Vietnamese ethno-cultural nationalism is paramount and can condition its other identity constituents as well as their respective interests and behavioural expressions. Thus, this study contributes an integrated perspective to the study of Vietnamese foreign policy: one that focuses on the construction of Vietnamese identity and interest by power and identity influences from both the inside and outside of the Vietnamese state.