History
The idea for the US-Vietnam Research Center grew out of a symposium in October 2016 at the University of California, Berkeley, on Republican perspectives on nation-building in South Vietnam during wartime. The extraordinary degree of attention and support we received from Vietnamese in Vietnam and in the diaspora after the symposium greatly inspired us and called for more sustained efforts to connect the academic world with the community. Conceptually the symposium also helped us make the connections between trends in republican ideas and politics across time and space in modern Vietnamese history and their importance for today’s Vietnam.
With generous financial support from several Vietnamese Americans and institutional support from the University of Oregon, we began to lay the groundwork in 2018 and officially announced the establishment of the Center in October 2019 at an international workshop on Vietnamese republicanism at the University of Oregon. Ushering in “A Republican Moment in the Study of Modern Vietnam” (the title of the keynote speech delivered by Berkeley historian Peter Zinoman), the workshop was a great success beyond our expectations. It brought together former Republic of Vietnam officials, diasporic activists, and senior and junior scholars, many of whom came from Vietnam.
Mission
The US-Vietnam Research Center is an independent research institution hosted by the Global Studies Institute at the University of Oregon. Our central mission is to promote research and education on three broad areas, including contemporary developments in Vietnam, US-Vietnam relations, and the Vietnamese-American community. We strive to engage the public and the expert community in the US, Vietnam, and elsewhere through commissioned research, publications of source materials and research findings, and workshops and symposiums. We aim to contribute to the intellectual and institutional power of the Vietnamese American diaspora while building a community of individuals and organizations interested in Vietnam and in US-Vietnamese relations, whether in the past, present, or future.
Focus #1: Vietnam
Contemporary Vietnam, one of the five remaining communist countries in the world, is undergoing rapid changes. It is the world’s 12th largest country in terms of population, and is located in the most dynamic region in the world. Vietnam’s economy is growing relatively fast thanks mostly to foreign investment that takes advantage of the country’s cheap labor and abundant resources. Labor productivity remains low; the private sector is strong whereas the huge state-owned sector is notoriously inefficient and corrupt.
Vietnamese society remains young but the number of old people is increasing rapidly. So is the gap between the rich and the poor. Politically, Vietnam is under the absolute rule of the Vietnamese Communist Party whose members account for about 3 percent of the population. Neither opposition parties, nor private media, nor independent civil society organizations are tolerated by the regime.
China’s rise and its assertive stand on territorial disputes has created an acute dilemma for Vietnam. The Vietnamese government has maintained a deferential relationship with China since the early 1990s out of ideological solidarity, regime security, and economic benefits. But this policy is increasingly challenged by vigorous anti-China nationalist sentiments among the Vietnamese populace as seen in numerous protests since 2007.
Focus #2: US-Vietnam Relations
US-Vietnam relations have a long history going back to World War II. In 1945, after Japan surrendered to the Allies, the presence of a few US military officers by the side of Ho Chi Minh and Vo Nguyen Giap helped the Viet Minh government gain domestic legitimacy. The US did not recognize that government after it learned that Ho was a long-time agent of Moscow-directed Communist International. Washington later supported the government of Ngo Dinh Diem who established the Republic of Vietnam (South Vietnam) in 1955. The US was the chief ally of South Vietnam against Soviet- and Chinese-backed communist North Vietnam.
After the end of the civil war between the two Vietnams, nearly two million Vietnamese fled their country and resettled in the US. Washington and Hanoi normalized relations in 1995, but relations have been slow to warm up due to Vietnam’s suspicion of US subversion of the communist regime. The two countries have inched closer in recent years as a result of China’s efforts to expand its domain of influence in East Asia, including Beijing’s aggressive enforcement of China’s territorial claims in the South China Sea.
Focus #3: Vietnamese America
More than a hundred thousand Vietnamese refugees came to the US following the fall of Saigon on April 30, 1975. Over the next decades, many more fled Vietnam as the communist regime took revenge on those associated with the fallen republican government while launching a radical economic, social and cultural revolution that led to draconian religious persecutions and extreme economic hardship. Thousands of ethnic Chinese were also pressured to leave as Vietnam fought a war against China.
There are now more than 2 million Vietnamese-Americans who live in every state in the US. Large concentrations exist in Northern and Southern California and the metropolitan areas of Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Chicago, Minneapolis-St Paul, Houston, Atlanta, Dallas-Ft Worth, Portland, and Seattle. Many Vietnamese have become successful professionals and entrepreneurs. A few have entered the US Congress, become generals in the US military, or won the so-called MacArthur “genius” grants. Yet many remain poor and dependent on public support.