Vietnam goes western : a political economy analysis of Vietnam’s access ion to the WTO

This paper explores the reasons and motivations for Vietnam’s entry into the World Trade Organization (WTO) in 2007. On the basis of in-depth, semistructured interviews with elites, secondary sources, and official documents, we point to the relevance of political economy considerations in this decis...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: Olivié Aldasoro, Iliana, Steinberg Wechsler, Federico
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Fecha de publicación:2014
País:España
Institución:Universidad de Huelva (UHU)
Repositorio:Arias Montano. Repositorio Institucional de la Universidad de Huelva
Idioma:inglés
OAI Identifier:oai:ariasmontano.uhu.es:10272/8862
Acceso en línea:http://hdl.handle.net/10272/8862
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Political economy
Development
Trade
WTO
Vietnam
Economía política
Desarrollo
Comercio
OMC
Descripción
Sumario:This paper explores the reasons and motivations for Vietnam’s entry into the World Trade Organization (WTO) in 2007. On the basis of in-depth, semistructured interviews with elites, secondary sources, and official documents, we point to the relevance of political economy considerations in this decision. In particular, Vietnamese authorities used WTO accession as an instrument to lock-in internal structural reforms, signal political stability to trade partners, and secure market access to Western consumer markets. Accession comes after a qualitative change in the export pattern (increased added value) that also meant new trade partners, mostly Western partners. Therefore, we interpret WTO accession as the final step of a wider process of economic and trade “Westernization”.