Activism and non-activism

The politics of claiming environmental justice in Vietnam

Bibliographic Data

ID4464604
AuthorsThai Nguyen-Van-Quoc (0000-0001-9634-7188, University of Groningen, corresponding author), Ethemcan Turhan (0000-0001-5074-5017, University of Groningen), Ronald Holzhacker (University of Groningen)
Year2023
Volume6
Issue2
Pages976-1006
Publication date2023-06-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueEnvironment and Planning E Nature and Space (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 2514-8486 • E-ISSN: 2514-8494
PublisherSAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1177/25148486221115955
OpenAlexW4292466791
LanguageEN
Citations received4
References cited84

This paper aims to explore how under authoritarian regimes, undergoing reform processes, divergent forms of environmental activism may emerge. Two severe cases of environmental degradation serve as our starting points: the marine disaster in the central coast of Vietnam in 2016 and the Mekong Delta's ongoing environmental degradation. While the former offers a case of rural grievances over mass fish death in Central Vietnam triggering protests on a national scale, the latter presents a continuum of environmental changes leading to serious impacts on deltaic livelihoods, albeit with no observable efforts of activism compared to the situation in other countries along the Mekong Delta. Drawing from in-depth interviews and participant observation with NGO workers in Vietnam who focus on environment and community development, we unravel the conditions, methods and rationalities behind their engagement (or lack thereof) with environmental activism in each case. We argue that the difference between the cases can be explained by tracing the process of politicising environmental grievances, taking into consideration culinary nationalism, anti-China nationalism and political opportunities under authoritarianism. Moving beyond current literature on activism under authoritarian regimes which relies mainly on institutional and/or social network approaches, our analysis helps further shed light on how contemporary environmental activism is mobilised in Vietnam from a geographically and politically grounded as well as culturally embedded position

Authoritarianism · Business · China · Contentious politics · Corporate governance · Democracy · Environmental degradation · Environmental governance · Environmental justice · Environmentalism · Geography · Livelihood · Nationalism · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Social movement · Sociology · Vietnamese · China's Socioeconomic Reforms and Governance · Law · Vietnamese History and Culture Studies · Water Governance and Infrastructure · Ecology

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