Controlling state powers
In the first decade of the twenty-first century, the increasing number of corruption
cases and similar abuses of public power caused popular dissatisfaction in Vietnam.
Reflecting the people’s malaise, many legal scholars have chosen the means of
constitutionalism to curb arbitrary governance and have raised more general
questions of “limiting state power” (gioi han quyen luc nha nuoc) or “controlling
state power” (kiem soat quyen luc nha nuoc).
61
Due to practical and academic demand, the Communist Party in the 11 th
Convention in 2011 introduced the new principle that “State power is unity with
distribution, co-ordination, andcontrolamong state bodies in exercising legislative,
executive and judicial powers.”
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It can be seen that apart from the established
tenets of unity, distribution, and co-ordination of powers, the Party has accepted the
constitutionalist idea of co-existence and interaction of the public powers, an
intriguing development of constitutional ideology in a single-party polity.
Reflecting the Party’s orientation, the Constitutional Proposal suggests that the
future constitution should clearly define the mechanism of control among state
bodies in exercising legislative, executive, and judicial powers.^63 One may expect
that this new concept will ideologically orient the upcoming constitutional
amendments.
“Constitutional protection”
How and to what extent the accepted constitutionalist principle of controlling state
power will be institutionally articulated is theordre du jour. Related is one of the
hottest themes of Vietnam’s recent constitutional dialogues:bao hien, or “consti-
tutional protection.” Literally, the Vietnamese termbao hienmeans protecting the
Constitution, but Vietnamese scholars of constitutional law tend to use the term
conceptually as equivalent to the European term “constitutional review,” or rather
the American term “judicial review.” In any meaning,bao hienis an idea closely
associated with modern liberal constitutionalism.
The theme ofbao hienwas widely discussed by Saigon scholars prior to national
unification in 1975.^64 Vietnam’s re-emerging discussion ofbao hientraces back to
the early years surrounding the 2001 constitutional amendments, but not until 2005 ,
(^61) See, for example, Nguyen Dang Dung,Su Han che Quyen luc Nha nuoc(Limiting State
Power) (Hanoi: Vietnam National University Publishing House, 2004 ); Trinh Thi Xuyen,
Kiem soat Quyen luc Nha Nuoc- Mot so Van de Ly luan va Thuc tien o Viet Nam hien nay
(Controlling State Power: Some Theoretical and Practical Issues) (Hanoi: National Polit-
ics Publishing House, 2008 ).
(^62) “Bao cao Chinh tri cua Ban Chap hanh Trung Ung Dang tai Dai hoi Lan thu 11 cua Dang
Cong San Viet Nam” (Political Report of the Central Committee of the Party in the 11 th
Convention of the Vietnamese Communist Party) (emphasis added).
(^63) “Constitutional Proposal.”
(^64) Nguyen Van Bong,Luat hien phap va Chinh tri hoc(Constitutional Law and Political
Science) (Saigon: 1971 ); Le Dinh Chan,Luat Hien phap va cac Dinh che Chinh tri