TTLA: Comparing the Institutions of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam and the French Republic: state and political parties

INFORMATION ABOUT DOCTORAL THESIS

1. Full name of the researcher:Tran Diep Thanh      

2. Gender: Male

3. Date of birth: September 3, 1973

4. Place of birth: Nam Dinh

5. Decision on recognition of PhD students No. 2213/2011/QD-XHNV-SDH dated November 21, 2011 of the President of the University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Vietnam National University, Hanoi

6. Changes in the training process:Decision on extending study time No. 3203/QD-XHNV-SDH dated December 31, 2014,Decision No. 2129/QD-XHNV dated July 1, 2016,Decision to change the topic name No. 2567/QD-XHNV dated August 12, 2016,Decision on adding thesis supervisor No. 2663/QD-XHNV dated November 9, 2015 of the President of the University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Vietnam National University, Hanoi.

7. Thesis topic name:Comparing the Institutions of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam and the French Republic: state and political parties

8. Major: Political Science, Code: 62.31.02.01

9. Scientific instructor:Dr. Luu Minh Van, Associate Professor Dr. Pham Thai Viet

10. Summary of new results of the thesis:

Firstly, the thesis draws out the basic similarities and differences in organizational structure and operational functions between the two political regimes. The political regimes of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam and the French Republic have similarities in expressing the ideology of the rule of law state in the organization of political institutions. The two states in the two continents of Asia and Europe have applied, inherited, innovated and perfected the model of the organizational structure of the political institution of the rule of law state. Although both are rule of law states, Vietnam and France have different models of state organizational structure. The Fifth Republic of France is a rule of law state following the model of a semi-presidential republic with a multi-party political system structure and an equilateral triangle state institutional model, state power is organized and divided according to the doctrine of separation of powers. Unlike the French Republic, Vietnam's political system is a rule-of-law state following the model of a Socialist Republic, with power belonging to the people and the Communist Party of Vietnam being the leading force of the state and society.

Second, the thesis analyzes the operational functions of the political institutions of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam and the French Republic, showing that both have similarities in that they both have state institutions that perform legislative, executive and judicial functions, but the content and nature of performing the functions in the process of public policy making are different.

Third, through comparing the static and dynamic characteristics of the similarities and differences between the political institutions of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam and the French Republic, the thesis points out certain successes and limitations of each institution.

Fourth, the thesis proves that the comparative research method from the perspective of functional structure has effectively applied to compare two different political institutions to find out the similarities, differences, successes and limitations of each political institution and the direction of improvement. The research results of the thesis also contribute to strengthening the functional structure approach when conducting research, that is, the same structures are organized differently in each political institution and vice versa.

The political institutions of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam and the French Republic are different because the organizational structure and operational functions of Vietnam follow the principle of power concentration, while that of the French Republic is the separation of three powers. However, both have in common the application of the ideology of the rule of law state to the institutional structure. Therefore, the thesis focuses on a feasible and suitable recommendation on the organizational structure, which is that in the near future, the Party and the State can apply to establish a constitutional body: the Constitutional Council according to the specific characteristics of the Vietnamese political institution.

11. Practical application:

Used for teaching and research activities in the fields of political science, international studies, and regional studies at the University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Vietnam National University, Hanoi.

12. Further research directions (if any):

13. Published works related to the thesis:

- Tran Diep Thanh (2012), “A comparative study of the Korean and Vietnamese Political Institutions”, The Journal of the Korean Policy Studies (ISSN 1598-7817), Vol 12 (December), pp. 697-703.

- Tran Diep Thanh (2013), “Today Vietnam's Political Institutions and How to Reform”, Joint International Conference: A Comparative Study on the Government and Public Administration of East-Asian Countries, National Research Foundation of Korea and Daejin University, South Korea, pp. 77-90.

- Tran Diep Thanh, Kim Chong-Soo (2013), “Studying the Presidency of Vietnam and France from a Comparative Perspective”, The Journal of the Korean Policy Studies (ISSN 1598-7817), Vol 13 (September), pp. 403-422.

- Tran Diep Thanh (2013), “Studying China and Vietnam from an Approach of Comparative Political Institutions”, International Conference on Comparative Socialist Developments: China and Vietnam, Department of Political Science, National Taiwan University, pp. 1-12.

- Tran Diep Thanh (2014), “Overview of the model of the central executive body of the French Republic and some suggestions for Vietnam”, Proceedings of the workshop on Experience in organizing the central state apparatus of France, Germany, Sweden and suggestions for Vietnam, Institute for European Studies, Vietnam Academy of Social Sciences, pp. 1-9.

INFORMATION ON DOCTORAL THESIS

1. Full name: TRAN DIEP THANH 2. Sex: Male

3. Date of birth: September 3, 1973 4. Place of birth: Nam Dinh

5. Admission decision number: 2213/2011/QD-XHNV-SDH, Dated November 21, 2011

6. Changes in academic process: Extension Decision number 3203/QD-XHNV-SDH dated December 31, 2014, 2129/QD-XHNV dated July 1, 2016; Decision on changing the thesis' name 2567/QD-XHNV dated August 12, 2016, Decision on supplementing the thesis' supervisor 2663/QD-XHNV dated November 9, 2015 by the Rector of the University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Vietnam National University, Hanoi.

7. Official thesis title: Comparing between the Socialist Republic of Vietnam and the Republic of France: state and political party\

8. Major: Political Studies, Code: 62.31.02.01

9. Supervisors: Dr. Luu Minh Van, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Pham Thai Viet

10. Summary of the new findings of the thesis:

Firstly, the thesis points out crucial similarities and differences of the two political systems' organizational structures and operational functions. Tthe Vietnamese socialist republic and its counterpart have a similarity as their political systems are based on the idea of ​​the state rule of law. The two countries in Asia-European continents have both been applying, innovating and improving their organizational structures of political systems in accordance with the rule of law. Although Vietnam and France are states ruled by law, they have different organizational structures. The Fifth French Republic is semi-presidentialism with muliti-political party system. Its state model is an equal triangular with the state power organized and divided through the principle of power separation. Conversely, The Vietnamese political institutions are a socialist state ruled by law which its power is belong to the People and the Vietnamese Communist Party is the force leading the State and society.

Secondly, the thesis examines their operation functions to clarify they have similarities that there are state institutions implementing functions of legislation, administration and jurisdiction. However, the contents and characteristics of those implementation in the process of policy making are different.

Thirdly, through comparing action and inaction traits of similarities and differences between political institutions of the Vietnamese socialist republic and of the French republic, the thesis underlines both significant achievements and limitations of each political system.

Finally, the thesis illustrates comparative research method with a structural function approach in applying successfully to a comparison of the two different political regimes in order to point out similarities and differences, outcomes and problems, and susgestions. The conclusion of the thesis also strengthens structural function approach in conducting research that same structures are organized differently within every political institutions and vice versa.

The Vietnamese political system differs from the French political regime due to organizational structures and operational functions of Vietnam based on the principle of power centralism, and of its counterpart followed by the principle of three power separation. However, they both a similarity that they have applied the rule of law's thought to organizational structures of their political systems. As a result, the thesis gives a fruitful and reasonable recomendation on organizational structure that particularly, in the coming future the Party and State could consider to find a constitutional agency such as Constitutional Council with her own characteristics of political regime.

11. Practicial Applicability (If any): Utilized for teaching and researching disciplines of political science, international studies and regional studies at University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Vietnam National University-Hanoi.

12. Further research directions (If any):

13. Thesis related publications:

- Tran Diep Thanh (2012), “A comparative study of the Korean and Vietnamese Political Institutions”, The Journal of the Korean Policy Studies (ISSN 1598-7817), Vol 12 (December), pp. 697-703.

- Tran Diep Thanh (2013), “Today Vietnam's Political Institutions and How to Reform”, Joint International Conference: A Comparative Study on the Government and Public Administration of East-Asian Countries, National Research Foundation of Korea and Daejin University, South Korea, pp. 77-90.

- Tran Diep Thanh, Kim Chong-Soo (2013), “Studying the Presidency of Vietnam and France from a Comparative Perspective”, The Journal of the Korean Policy Studies (ISSN 1598-7817), Vol 13 (September), pp. 403-422.

- Tran Diep Thanh (2013), “Studying China and Vietnam from an Approach of Comparative Political Institutions”, International Conference on Comparative Socialist Developments: China and Vietnam, Department of Political Science, National Taiwan University, pp. 1-12.

- Tran Diep Thanh (2014), “An overview of the French Republic's central Government model and some experiences or Vietnam”, the Proceedings of Conference on Organization of State Apparatuses of France, Germany, Sweden and Experiences for Vietnam, Institute for European Studies, Vietnam Academy for Social Sciences, pp. 1-9.