Enhancing Research on Authoritarian Regimes through Detailed Comparisons of China and Vietnam

Abstract

In exploring the role of factions, personalism, and legislative behavior in the two states, the three contributions in this issue dispense with the simplistic notion of a China or Vietnam “Model” of political economy, but instead explain the politics behind how leaders are chosen and how legislative decisions are made and implemented. As I argue in this essay, the insights of these three papers are important not only for broadening area studies expertise, but also contributing to the burgeoning literature on authoritarian regimes, which has insufficiently accounted for subtle institutional differences and variation in the policy preferences of elite actors.