Abstract
Institutional reformers have realized that the society needs to play an important role in environmental politics, which is reflected in recent changes to the environmental law that promote greater participation. This chapter begins with a discussion of whether civil society is emerging in Vietnam. Clearly, the one-party state prefers organizations that it can control. In the environmental field, societal actors which are close to the government as well as those which seek greater independence are playing an increasingly active role. Even the media have become an active player that seeks to promote environmental issues. The case of the anti-bauxite mining movement, however, demonstrates that there are limits to environmental activism when powerful national and economic interests are threatened.
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Ortmann, S. (2017). The Society. In: Environmental Governance in Vietnam. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-49760-0_5
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