Publications

With a series of country studies from Asia, Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung addresses the political and social factors that drive - but also hamper - socially just energy transitions. To this end, authors from China, India, Indonesia, Japan, Philippines, South-Korea, Thailand, and Vietnam worked together with Miranda Schreurs, professor for environmental and climate policy from the Technical University of Munich to provide an in-depth analysis of the situation in their respective countries. The meta study written by Miranda Schreurs and Julia Balanowski provides a comprehensive overview of the most important commonalities and differences across the eight countries.

Since the beginning of the comprehensive reform process in 1986, economic growth in Vietnam has been remarkable. The question remains as to whether this spectacular development will be able to continue. There are a number of experts who believe that Vietnam is in danger of falling into the middle-income trap or might already be affected by it. The aim of the following paper is to analyse the specific way in which Vietnam has been integrating into the global economy and what kind of production structure has been created as a result. The main conclusion is that theoretical considerations and empirical analyses support the hypothesis that an unregulated integration in the world market is not beneficial for Vietnam in the long run and could lead to Vietnam becoming stuck in the MIT.

In Asia, countries with export-oriented industries like Vietnam benefit from low wages and a growing workforce to ensure participation in the new global trade regimes. However, trade liberalisation and trade agreements in their current form have unleashed hyper-competitive pressure in products such as ready-made garments, footwear and consumer electronics. Labour clauses linked to trade have provided little protection for workers on core labour standards, let alone living wages, working hours and safety standards. This Vietnam country study explored the labour practices in the global value chains of three key exporting industries in Vietnam, namely garments, footwear and electronics, within the context of the industrial and labour relations systems of the country. It suggests ways how decent work in global supply chains can be influenced through national and local government policies,…

A swift transition towards renewable energy (RE) is needed in Asia. Nevertheless, the transition towards RE progresses only slowly in most Asian countries. With a series of countries studies from Asia, Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung addresses the political and social factors that drive, but also hamper an energy transition. To this end, authors from China, India, Indonesia, Japan, Philippines, South-Korea, Thailand, and Vietnam worked together with Prof. Miranda Schreurs to provide an in-depth analysis of the situation in their respective countries.