Between War and the State : : Civil Society in South Vietnam, 1954–1975 / / Van Nguyen-Marshall.

• Superior document: Title is part of eBook package: De Gruyter Cornell University Press Complete eBook-Package 2023
• VerfasserIn: Nguyen-Marshall, Van,
• Place / Publishing House: Ithaca, NY : : Cornell University Press, , [2023]; ©2023
• Year of Publication: 2023
• Language: English
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (240 p.) :; 7 b&w halftones, 1 map

In Between War and the State, Van Nguyen-Marshall examines an array of voluntary activities, including mutual-help, professional, charitable, community development, student, women's, and rights organizations active in South Vietnam from 1954–1975. By bringing focus to the public lives of South Vietnamese people, Between War and the State challenges persistent stereotypes of South Vietnam as a place without society or agency. Such robust associational life underscores how an active civil society survived despite difficulties imposed by the war, government restrictions, economic hardship, and external political forces. These competing political forces, which included the United States, Western aid agencies, and Vietnamese communist agents, created a highly competitive arena wherein the South Vietnamese state did not have a monopoly on persuasive or coercive power. To maintain its influence, the state sometimes needed to accommodate groups and limit its use of violence. Civil society participants in South Vietnam leveraged their social connections, made alliances, appealed to the domestic and international public, and used street protests to voice their concerns, secure their interests and carry out their activities.

Table of Contents

Frontmatter -- Contents -- Acknowledgments -- Abbreviations -- Map of Vietnam, 1954–1975 -- Introduction: Theory and Scope -- 1. The Historical and Political Landscape -- 2. Sociability and Associational Life in South Vietnam -- 3. Performing Social Service in South Vietnam -- 4. Voluntary Efforts in Social and Community Development -- 5. Social and Political Activism of Students in South Vietnam -- 6. Sóng Thần Newspaper and the “Highway of Horror” Project -- 7. The Fight for Rights and Freedoms in the 1970s -- Conclusion: Challenges and Possibilities in Comparative Context -- Notes -- Bibliography -- Index