Environmental Protection in the Hands of the State: Authoritarian Environmentalism and Popular Perceptions in Vietnam

• Author: Ole Bruun
• Published date: 01 June 2020
• Date: 01 June 2020
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1177/1070496520905625
• Subject Matter: Articles

Article

Environmental

Protection in the

Hands of the State:

Authoritarian

Environmentalism and

Popular Perceptions

in Vietnam

Ole Bruun

1

Abstract

Vietnam’s uncompromising economic growth priorities under Communist Party

leadership have left environmental degradation and loss of biodiversity in its wake,

and the country is in many respects at a critical threshold. Even so, recent debate has

emphasized that state or “authoritarian” environmentalism may have political advan-

tages in determined and coordinated environmental response, although the down-

side may be a denial of personal responsibility and low public awareness. Building on

a series of field studies in rural and highland Vietnam, this article puts everyday

environmental perceptions and practices into the perspective of long-term author-

itarian governance. It explores the resulting hierarchization of state–society relations

and fragmentation of social forces, in which environmental action, responsibility, and

ethics primarily emanate from the state sphere. It argues that authoritarianism has

contributed to a critical disjuncture between shared norms and the objective con-

ditions of the biophysical environment, as comprehensive state dominance hampers

autonomous value change in society.

1

Department of Society and Globalisation, Roskilde University, Denmark

Corresponding Author:

Ole Bruun, Department of Society and Globalisation, Roskilde University, Roskilde 4000, Denmark.

Email: obruun@ruc.dk

Journal of Environment &

Development

2020, Vol. 29(2) 171–195

!The Author(s) 2020

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DOI: 10.1177/1070496520905625

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Keywords

Vietnam, state environmentalism, authoritarianism, rural development, popular

perceptions

This article examines to what extent autocratic rule can be said to imprint itself

on popular views and perceptions of the biophysical domain, including the sense

of responsibility for a healthy environment. Today, Vietnam’s environmental

emergencies relate to degradation, loss of habitats and biodiversity, and a range

of pollution issues. As in most countries in the region, emerging state environ-

mentalism addresses these emergencies by means of a complex array of envi-

ronmental and climate strategies, programs, and initiatives. Yet common

environmental “awareness” or “values” are seen to react only sluggishly to

these challenges, and the overriding priorities among the broader segments of

the population are continued economic growth and material gains.

However, rather than viewing environmental perceptions as shaped by top-

down technocratic governance and asymmetrical state–society relations, the article

deliberates on the long-term interaction between state and popular perspectives at

the level of shared culture. It argues that key aspects of a materialist popular

culture and a prevalent anthropocentric outlook are integrated into Communist

Party of Vietnam (CPV) ideology but have been stif‌led in the party-state’s central-

istic policies and uncompromising economic growth priorities. In effect, authori-

tarianism has contributed to a critical disjuncture between shared norms and the

objective conditions of biophysical environment, resulting in cultural-

environmental disaggregation (e.g., Jamieson, Cuc, & Rambo, 1998). Thus, we

may ask if long-term authoritarian governance has concentrated responsibility

with state institutions to such an extent that it has not only served as a driver

for environmental utilitarianism at a broader societal level but has also come to

discredit divergent outlooks and obstruct autonomous processes of change.

The article synthesises a broad material on rural environmental practices and

attitudes, collected through three interdisciplinary research projects on climate

change adaptation, water disasters, and forest management in Vietnam between

2009 and 2018 (including Ha Tinh, Nghe An, Quang Binh, and Quang Nam

Provinces on the northern to central coast and Lao Cai Province in the north-

west).

1

In addition to socioeconomic household surveys (average 150 house-

holds) in each province, the material includes hundreds of individual

household interviews, countless interviews with off‌icials of all levels of gover-

nance, ethnographic f‌ieldwork observations, and everyday conversation.

172 Journal of Environment & Development 29(2)