Tracing developments since the end of the Vietnam War, Ian Jeffries gives a comprehensive and informative overview of the current political and economic situation in Vietnam today.

Ian Jeffries is Reader in Economics and a member of the Centre of Russian and East European Studies at the University of Wales Swamsea. He is one of the foremost authorities on the post-communist world and has written extensively on communist and transitional economies. His publications include A Guide to the Socialist Economies (Routledge, 1990), Socialist Economies and the Transition to the Market (Routledge, 1993) and The Countries of the Former Soviet Union at the Turn of the Twenty-first Century: The Baltic and European States in Transition (2004, the last of a five-volume series written by the author for Routledge).

Political Developments. Political Background. A Chronology of Political Developments. The Vietnam War (The Human Toll). Vietnam's Armed Forces. Communist Party Membership. The Boat People. Ethnic Minorities. Religion. Demography. AIDS. SARS. Bird Flu. Economic Developments. Economic Background. The Economic System Prior to and After 1989. Financial and Exchange Rate Policy. The State Sector. The Non-State, Non-Agricultural Sector. The 'Equitization' Program. Further Aspects of Privatization. Foreign Trade. The Asian Financial Crisis. Foreign Debt and Aid. Foreign Direct Investment. Agriculture. Economic Performance