This paper tackles the question of how the current court system of Vietnam can contribute to fighting against corruption in the country. The authors provide an overview of the role of the court system in anti-corruption as well as several traditional problems that weaken its power in curbing corruption. The court system also faces new challenges raised by free trade agreements as a result of development progress. Based on the current situation, the authors argue that although there have been many attempts to reform the court system of Vietnam, the ability to prevent corruption in the court system in the coming years will remain weak. The situation has been explained by the separation of power in Vietnam and the influence of the Communist Party of Vietnam. The authors agree with these arguments but also provide new reasons such as cultural background, integrity of judges, and incorrect understanding of the core principles. They hope that this paper will help to provide a clearer vision of the role of the Vietnamese court system in general as well as of the anti-corruption fight.
The Court System in the Fight against Corruption in Vietnam: Traditional Problems and New Challenges from Free Trade Agreements
Phạm Hồng Thái is a senior lecturer at the Vietnam National University, Hà Nội, School of Law, who has been researching and teaching administrative law for nearly forty years. He has published hundreds of studies and chaired and coordinated many research grants/projects. He continues to study the law of public service and public servants, human rights, public power and state organization, administrative tribunals, decentralization of state management, and administrative contracts. He has supervised hundreds of master’s and PhD students.
Vũ Công Giao is an experienced local expert in human rights and constitutional law in Vietnam. He has been doing research and teaching human rights and constitutional law since 1996. Vũ Công Giao is currently dean of the Department of Constitutional and Administrative Laws at Vietnam National University, Hà Nội, School of Law. He has finished and coordinated hundreds of research projects, workshops, and conferences on human rights and constitutional law since 1998. He initiated and played a key role in establishing and running the master’s program on human rights law of the VNU-LS in cooperation with the Norwegian Center for Human Rights, which is the first of its kind in Vietnam.
Nguyễn Anh Đức is a lecturer who teaches administrative law and human rights law at the Vietnam National University, Hà Nội, School of Law. He has published a number of studies on the role of state management, the right to associate, the right to information, developmental government, human rights in cyberspace, and the socialist-oriented market economy and FTAs.
Phạm Hồng Thái, Vũ Công Giao, Nguyễn Anh Đức; The Court System in the Fight against Corruption in Vietnam: Traditional Problems and New Challenges from Free Trade Agreements. Journal of Vietnamese Studies 1 February 2020; 15 (1): 77–106. doi: https://doi.org/10.1525/vs.2020.15.1.77
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