The workshop on “Theoretical and practical backgrounds for the model of social development and the management of social development” was held at the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies (under Vietnam Academy of Social Sciences) on 3 October 2013. This was one among the academic activities of the project “Social development and the management of social development in the Southeast Asian countries – the lesson for Vietnam to involve in building the ASEAN Community” led by Assoc.Prof.Dr. Nguyen Duy Dung, which was a component of the State-level research program no. KX.02/11-15 named “Research on social development and the management of social development in Vietnam until 2020” with Assoc.Prof.Dr. Tran Duc Cuong as the program manager.
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As stated by Assoc.Prof.Dr. Nguyen Duy Dung in his introductory speech, social development and the management of social development have been topics for lively discussion in Vietnam for five recent years. So far, however, there has been lack of fundamental research on this subject, leading to unconvincing and inappropriate explanations and recommendations. As a result, basic theoretical foundation was not strong enough and has become an issue of interest, particularly when Vietnam’s regional and international integration is increasingly extensive and deeper. Until 2015, the ASEAN community, including socio-cultural community, will be born as projected. The study of the social development and the management of social development of ASEAN countries, hence, is indispensable. This was also the reason why the project “Social development and the management of social development in the Southeast Asian countries – the lessons for Vietnam to involve in building the ASEAN Community” had been approved. The goal of this project was to clarify the situation of the social development and the management of social development in Southeast Asian countries in the process of building the ASEAN community, from which lessons for Vietnam to join in the building of the ASEAN community should be drawn.
Assoc.Prof.Dr. Nguyen Duy Dung proposed the discussion at the workshop to be focused on the issues such as a deeper analysis of the success and limitations of solving the social problems in some countries, in order to make a comparison with the models in Southeast Asia; or the solutions to the social problems in the ASEAN countries and the challenges during the realization process of the ASEAN Community in general, and the socio-cultural community in particular; and drawing lessons from the experience of solving social problems in other countries for Vietnam’s participation in the ASEAN community building.
Among approximately 20 papers by the members of the research project and researchers from and outside the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, six papers were presented at the workshop including: (1) Some theoretical issues of the social development and the models for reference in Europe (Assoc.Prof.Dr. Bui Nhat Quang); (2) Social development and the management of social development towards a regulatory society of uniformity – the lessons from the EU (Dr. Tran Phuong Hoa); (3) Some social problems and social management policies in the ASEAN countries today (Dr. Tran Huong Lan); (4) An evaluation of the social development in the Philippines in the early 21st century (Dr. Nguyen Huy Hoang); (5) The Indonesian policies for the social development after the 1997-1998 crisis (MA. Nguyen Van Ha); and (6) Poverty reduction in Malaysia since 2010 (Dr. Le Thanh Huong).
The presentations and discussion provided a deep review on the conceptual issues and approaches, as well as an analysis of the social problems in the world in general, and in the ASEAN countries in particular for Vietnam’s reference. The results of the discussion made it possible to say that most countries faced difficulties in solving the problems of poverty, inequality, population, social policy, and environment, etc. Currently, the Nordic countries have been recognized for their achievements in social development and management of social development, but as a relative model of reference only for the fact that they are considered as a rare phenomenon.
Pham Vinh Ha
