Talking Back: The Role of Narrative in Vietnam’s Recent Land Compensation Changes

Abstract

As in other rapidly growing economies, Vietnam’s urban land development has been a source of social conflict as those who are relocated contest the distribution of economic gains. More recently, the relocated have increased their bargaining power and receive better compensation packages. The paper analyses this situation to discuss further developing our understanding of how property rights institutions change. The case study shows the efficacy of social narratives to renegotiate the terms of the social contract supporting property rights even in a society with limited means for public participation in governmental reform. Secondly, it illuminates that modern property rights are entwined with public finance and so property rights reforms are tied to the organisational structure of government and fiscal relations.

Equity issues in land acquisition: A source of delays in large construction projects in Vietnam

“…However, these beneficiaries would not perceive that procedure that benefited them as negative; whereas, other dissatisfied households who did not had benefits from that procedure often perceived it as negative. These findings extend W. Kim andOk (2009), andWhiteman (2009) by providing the understanding about the differences in perceptions of procedures between beneficiaries and the others who did not had those benefits in land acquisition, which also have not been shown in literature.…”

“…This implies that compensation received could not cover the economic losses of the majority of land-acquired communities. These negative results support S. S. Han and Vu (2008), Hoang (2009), A. M. Kim (2011, Thien Thu and Perera (2011b), T. T. H. Nguyen, Nguyen, and Nguyen (2007) identifying economic issues created by land acquisition. Other comparisons between outcomes and inputs in terms of social, environmental, and spiritual aspects also demonstrate the domination of underreward results.…”

Downgraded by Upgrading: Small-scale Traders, Urban Transformation and Spatial Reconfiguration in Post-reform Vietnam

“…Such have been the effects of neoliberal restructuring in many parts of the world, including Europe, and we can see evidence of its first seeds taking root in Vietnam today (Kim 2011;Harms 2013a;Labbé and Musil 2014).…”

Reclaiming Rights to the Socialist City: Bureaucratic Artefacts and the Affective Appeal of Petitions

“…Such was the case in Quang Trung, where three joint stock corporations (in which the government has controlling stakes) proposed the razing and redevelopment of Areas A, B and C. As in other urban enclaves undergoing rapid growth, payment of just compensation to land and property owners has become a political hot topic, or ® iÓm nóng (Kim, 2011;DiGregorio, 2011;Harms, 2012). At issue in Vinh, however, was not only insufficient in-kind compensation that residents felt was an affront to their social and politial contributions to socialist nation-building, but also the concurrent process of privatization of state property.…”

“…Scholars have argued that such civic acts are a form of resistance or 'talking back to the state' (Kim, 2011) for citizens involved in land and property disputes, particularly in urban areas where new political spaces have emerged (Wells-Dang, 2010). In the case of Quang Trung, to avoid pitting an abstract 'local government' against an all-encompassing 'the people', I have found it more useful to think in terms of dynamic assemblages formed through interactions rather than opposing sides.…”