Vietnam in Perspective

The wheel of fortune turns for most people but for the Vietnamese, it seems to have long remained immobile. Nearly two years ago, when the Paris Peace Agreement was signed, war-weary Vietnamese took heart that somehow the wheel would finally turn to their advantage. Although few were na?ve enough to expect miracles, or that the next couple of years would be an easy time, many began to talk of reconstruction. Most people had hoped that the framework es tablished in the Paris Agreement, agreed to by signatory parties, would somehow transform the bloody struggle of the battlefields to a less violent competition in the political arena. Unfortunately their hopes did not materialize. Indeed, all that the Paris Agreement has achieved thus far has been to put an end to the direct U.S. involvement in the Indochina conflict and allow President Nixon to fulfil his promise of bringing the boys home. As far as Vietnam is concerned, the fighting has continued unabated; casualties are still high; and the prospects for a rapid political settlement is just as illusory today as when the Agreement was signed. With the South Vietnamese economy rapidly deteriorating, ordinary Vietnamese discover that living in post-war Vietnam is not much of an improve ment from the days of the war itself. This paper attempts to review and assess the significant political, economic, and social events that took place in South Vietnam in 1974. In so doing, the major trends of the country will be brought into sharper focus

Business · Perspective (graphical · Political science · Computer Science · Vietnamese History and Culture Studies · Artificial Intelligence

• The Phoenix Program

  Open Access•Douglas Valentine, Mark Crispin Miller•Phoenix Program•1990

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