Ho Chi Minh National Academy of Politics: Linking theoretical research and practical summarization with providing scientific arguments, advising on planning strategies and policies, contributing to bringing the country into a new era

MA. PHAM THI VINH HA
Political Theory Journal,
Ho Chi Minh National Academy of Politics

1. Introduction

Summarizing practical experience and conducting theoretical research are critical steps in the policy cycle. In order to formulate correct guidelines and policies that meet the requirements of each stage and the development of social life, it is necessary to always summarize practices and research theories. Summarizing practices requires accurate and objective assessment of the implementation of policies in practice; clarifying positive aspects, advantages, limitations, shortcomings and causes, lessons learned, supplementing and developing guidelines and policies that are suitable for development requirements.

Throughout the process of leading the revolution, our Party has upheld Marxism-Leninism and Ho Chi Minh Thought as its ideological foundation and guiding principles for action. At the same time, it is of great importance to summarize practices, research, and develop theories suitable to the characteristics and situation of Vietnam. As a result, it has proposed correct policies, guidelines, and decisions, appropriate to the requirements of each revolutionary stage, contributing to the great successes at each stage.

According to the Marxist - Leninist philosophy, “practice is the totality of human material-sensory activities, with historical-social characteristics, aimed at transforming nature and society”(1). Practice manifests in three basic forms: material production activities; political-social activities; scientific experimental activities. In which, material production activities aim to ensure the existence of humans and human society; political-social activities aim to transform and reform society, develop social institutions and social relations so that humans and human society can develop normally; scientific experimental activities are a specialized form of practice which plays an important role in the development of society.

According to K.Marx, F.Engels, V.I.Lenin and Ho Chi Minh, “scientific theory is a system of knowledge generalized from practical experience, reflecting the essential, inevitable, regular relationships of things and phenomena expressed by a system of principles, laws, and categories”(2). Theory is grounded in knowledge derived from practical experience. This foundational insight is crucial to analyzing, evaluating, and identifying fundamental relationships and developmental laws of things and phenomena. The process of researching these intrinsic, law-governed relationships and generalizing them into scientific theory is what reflects the essence of phenomena.

The concept of “policy” appears in many areas of social life. Policy is often understood as decisions made by leadership and management agencies to solve one or a group of problems in order to achieve one or more specific goals. The policy-making process requires a combination of scientific theory and practical experience. For policies to be effective in real social life, the policy-making process must be carried out objectively and specifically; it should not be the sole responsibility of leadership and management agencies but must mobilize the contributions of scientists and the community, in which the participation and contributions of scientists take an important role.

There is a dialectical, unified, and mutually influencing relationship between “practice”, “theory” and “policy”. Material production, socio-political activities, and scientific experiments are the basis and driving forces for setting goals and requirements for the development of theory. At the same time, new issues arising from practice and new progressive theoretical thinking also set new development goals and requirements, requiring new policies to promote development. These new policies are planned based on new progressive scientific foundations, following the new practical requirements of social life.

President Ho Chi Minh affirmed: “Practice without theoretical guidance becomes blind practice. Theory without connection to practice is an empty theory”(3). Therefore, in the research and development of theory as well as in the policy-making process, practical summarization is critical and indispensable. Summarizing practice is a process of intellectual activity, scientific thinking, and dialectics to analyze and evaluate the advantages and limitations of theory; the rightness and wrongness of policy; and clarify the causes of advantages and limitations to supplement, perfect, and develop theory. From that foundation, new and suitable policies can be formulated to effectively address new development demands posed by reality - removing “bottlenecks,” resolving obstacles, and paving the way for social advancement. This is the essential requirement for improving the quality of the Party’s policies and strategies and the State’s laws and policies in the new era - the era of the national progress.

2. The Academy’s work of practical summarization, theoretical research, and providing scientific arguments and advice to the Party and the State for the formulation of policies and strategies

The Ho Chi Minh National Academy of Politics “is assigned the function of being a national center for training and fostering mid- and senior-level leaders, managers, and political theory scientists of the Party, the State, the Vietnam Fatherland Front, and socio-political organizations; is a national center for scientific research on Marxism-Leninism, Ho Chi Minh Thought, theories on the renovation path, the Party’s guidelines, policies, and laws of the State; research on political science, leadership and management science, administrative science, state management, and public administration to serve teaching and learning, contributing to providing scientific arguments for planning and perfecting the Party’s guidelines and policies, and the State’s policies and laws in the cause of national construction and defense, firmly protecting the Party’s ideological foundation, fighting against erroneous and hostile viewpoints; providing advice on theoretical work, cultural, literary, and artistic criticism; advise, guide, manage, and coordinate scientific activities of Central Party agencies”.

In its role participating in policy and strategy planning, the Academy has the task of researching, advising, proposing, providing scientific arguments, and consulting the Party and the State in planning, perfecting, developing guidelines, policies and strategies for national construction and development, the Party and State building, and renovating the organization and operation of the political system; providing scientific arguments on administrative reform, civil service reform, civil servants, public employees and state apparatus organization in accordance with each stage of the country’s development(4).

Scientific research is one of the core, foundational tasks of the Academy. Research on Marxism-Leninism, Ho Chi Minh Thought, and the theory of renovation plays an important role in implementing the task of training and fostering cadres and participating in planning guidelines, policies, and strategies for national development. The subjects trained and fostered at the Academy include strategic-level cadres, candidates for strategic level positions, strategic-level consultants, provincial-level and key district-level managers, etc. These are individuals who formulate or participate in policy-making at both central and local levels. Thus, the Academy’s training mission not only provides political-theory knowledge but also equips cadres with methodologies and scientific arguments, giving them the information, knowledge, and capacity to research, advise, and formulate national and local policies. As such, the training and development of cadres at the Academy is also an indirect means of guiding the formulation of policies and strategies.

With this mission, in recent years, especially since 2016, the Party Committee, Board of Leadership and President of the Academy have spent a lot of time, focusing on leading, directly and comprehensively directing the work of practical summarization, research and theoretical development, making these activities increasingly more qualitative and effective, especially major scientific works with practical scientific imprints and values. These contributions have been recognized by General Secretary To Lam, who remarked: “Scientific research has undergone clear changes toward practicality, closely linked to the demands of the renewal process... with dozens of reports sent to the Politburo, the Secretariat, the National Assembly, the Government, the Committee for the 40-Year Renewal Review, and hundreds of advisory, critique, and feedback reports for central and local Party agencies, ministries, and sectors - providing substantial scientific justification for the formulation of Party and State lines, guidelines, and policies, as well as in the management and governance efforts of all levels and sectors nationwide”(5).

The Academy’s serious and scientific approach to summarizing practice and conducting theoretical research has significantly improved the quality of teaching materials and effectively supported the training and development of officials. It has also made important, practical contributions in providing scientific arguments and advice to the Party Central Committee and the State - specifically the Politburo, the Secretariat, the National Assembly, the Government, and the Prime Minister - in the formulation and refinement of the Party’s lines and strategies, as well as the State’s development policies and laws, in Party building and political system construction. This accomplishment confirms the Academy’s role as the leading central Party agency in political-theory research, leadership and management science, and in policy consultation and advisory on renovation strategy.

During the 12th Congress (2016 - 2020) and continuing from 2021 to the present, through scientific research activities, the work of practical summarization and theoretical research has been carried out in a comprehensive and in-depth manner. This work closely follows the Resolutions of the National Party Congress, the Political Platform, and the directives of the Party Central Committee - especially those from the Politburo and Secretariat - as well as the programs and plans of the Government. In the 5 years between 2015 and 2020, the Academy has “successfully organized 26 international conferences; 24 national conferences; 77 ministerial-level conferences; 338 grassroots-level conferences and many scientific seminars at institute and faculty levels, attracting the participation of many domestic and international scientists, creating a positive spread in society, etc.; implemented 218 national-level or centrally-assigned scientific and technological projects and tasks; 148 key ministerial-level scientific projects; 348 ministerial-level projects; 04 investigation and survey projects; 70 institutional-level unfunded projects; 932 institutional-level funded projects”(6).

From May 2022 to 2023, the Academy launched over 1,000 research projects and scientific tasks, including more than 700 proposals, research projects, and assignments; and organized over 350 academic conferences, workshops, and roundtables at various levels, in addition to field studies, scientific information sessions, and more than 2,000 socialized scientific publications. Among these, the Academy carried out 62 ministerial-level research projects, including 31 continuing from 2021-2022 and 31 new projects launched in 2022 and completed by 2023. The results have been applied in training and cadre development activities. Additionally, the Academy implemented 277 institutional-level projects (both funded and unfunded), with 140 funded by the Academy’s scientific activities budget and 137 funded independently by its subordinate academies(7).

In 2024, the Academy implemented 37 sub-topics under the National Special Science and Technology Program for the period 2021 - 2025, code KX.02/21-25, Research and application of Ho Chi Minh Thought in the cause of national construction, development, and defense of the Fatherland in the period of renovation (period 1986 to present, orientation to 2030, and vision to 2045). It deployed about 90 projects, programs, and topics at ministerial and equivalent levels; 10 scientific tasks, topics assigned by the President; 15 joint scientific topics, and tasks; 07 basic investigatory projects and 04 scientific tasks. It implemented 225 grassroots projects, organized 55 scientific seminars, including 03 international seminars, 15 national seminars, 37 seminars, and workshops at ministerial and inter-ministerial levels. The units of the Academy coordinated with ministries, branches, and localities to organize 15 national seminars and 20 inter-ministerial seminars; 65 grassroots scientific seminars; about 60 scientific information sessions, and completed a series of 06 studies serving the summary of 40 years of renovation. The Academy organized the compilation and publication of the Handbook on protecting the Party’s ideological foundation in cyberspace; 02 books collecting articles that won the 3rd Political Essay Contest on protecting the Party’s ideological foundation, fighting against erroneous and hostile views in 2023; deployed research and accepted 02 projects integrating the content of protecting the Party’s ideological foundation in the advanced political theory program; 01 project on the model of experience in protecting the Party’s ideological foundation and organized 03 in-depth ministerial-level scientific seminars on protecting the Party’s ideological foundation(8).

Through its scientific research activities and practical summaries, the Academy has produced many specialized reports and proposed many recommendations of great scientific and practical value to the Politburo, the Secretariat, the National Assembly, and the Government, making practical contributions to the development and promulgation of resolutions and conclusions of the Party Central Committee and the Politburo; decisions, conclusions, and directives of the Politburo and the Secretariat; laws and resolutions of the National Assembly and the National Assembly Standing Committee; decrees, national target programs, plans, and action programs of the Government.

From 2017 to 2018, the Academy prepared and submitted 24 reports and recommendations to the Politburo and the Secretariat; in 2019 and early 2020, it prepared more than 40 reports and recommendations to the Subcommittees to draft documents for the 13th National Party Congress, etc. Notable programs include: Research on scientific arguments to ensure stability and sustainable development of the political regime in Vietnam; Breakthrough solutions to effectively implement 6 key tasks during the 12th National Party Congress; National scientific research program KX.02/16-20: “Research to summarize, propose supplements and development of Marxism-Leninism - An important component of the ideological foundation of the Communist Party of Vietnam in the new context”; Key ministerial programs for the 2019-2020 period: Research and propose orientations to protect the Party’s ideological foundation, to fight against erroneous and hostile views in the fields of ideology, theory, literature, and art; A program to collect documents and write biographies of outstanding senior leaders of the Party and the Vietnamese revolution; A project on “integrating human rights into the education program in the national education system”(9), and so on.

From the beginning of 2022 through 2023, the Academy prepared and sent 19 reports to the Politburo, the Secretariat, and the Government. In addition, it organized research and provided comments on 54 draft documents of the Party and the State, ministries, branches, and localities; prepared 01 thematic report as ordered by central agencies and implemented many topical reports in conjunction with localities.

These studies have provided scientific arguments and answers for urgent theoretical and practical issues on building the governing Party and building a socialist rule-of-law state in Vietnam; supplementing and perfecting national development policies in the fields of politics, economics, culture, society, national defense, security, foreign affairs, ethnicity, and religion; analyzing, evaluating and explaining issues arising in the process of putting policies into practice, thereby proposing policies to the Party, the State, ministries and branches at the central and local levels.

Some reports and recommendations have received positive feedback from the Party and the State leaders and have been directed to be sent to relevant agencies, units, and localities to receive and apply the products(10).

In 2024, the Academy placed greater emphasis on improving the quality of policy advisory work, etc. It researched and drafted 51 consulting documents, contributing ideas to central and local ministries, departments, and branches, serving the planning of guidelines and policies(11); including 27 reports and recommendations sent to the Politburo, the Secretariat, the Government, and Subcommittees to draft documents for the 14th National Party Congress(12).

3. Some tasks and solutions to improve the quality of theoretical research, practical summarization, provide scientific arguments, and advise the Party and the State in formulating guidelines, policies, and laws

The 13th National Party Congress clearly stated: “When formulating guidelines, policies, and solutions, it is necessary to closely follow and originate from practice, assess impacts, balance, allocate resources and organize effective implementation”(13), and at the same time clearly stated: “Elevate the theoretical thinking of the Party, promote the summarization of practice, theoretical research, promptly provide scientific basis for formulating guidelines, Party policies, and State policies and laws”(14). “Promote practical summarization, theoretical research, improve the theoretical system on renovation guidelines, on socialism and the path to socialism in Vietnam. Link practical summarization, theoretical research with policy orientation...”(15).

In particular, to bring the country into a new era, this task is especially meaningful in providing scientific arguments for the Party to issue policies and resolutions that are “correct and meet the requirements, tasks, paths, and development methods of the country and the nation, etc.; must have vision, scientific nature, practicality, and feasibility; generate excitement, trust, expectations, and motivation to urge the actions of cadres, party members, economic sectors, and the people to implement the Party’s resolutions”(16), “putting increasingly high demands on the Academy in the work of training and fostering cadres and scientific and theoretical research, contributing to advising and planning guidelines and policies for national construction and development, making worthy contributions to the renovation process”(17).

In that spirit, the Academy “Promotes the work of practical summarization, researching and developing Marxist - Leninist theories, Ho Chi Minh Thought, the Party’s guidelines and policies, and the State’s policies and laws; both serving to improve the quality of training and fostering, and providing scientific arguments for the formulation of the Party’s guidelines and policies, and the State’s policies and laws”(18). That is the basic and important requirement and task of the Academy in the new situation. To improve the quality of this activity, in the coming time, units in the Academy must closely follow the important guiding viewpoints of the Party Central Committee, General Secretary To Lam, and the Party Committee and Board of Directors of the Academy, specifically:

Firstly, continue to vigorously renovate scientific research work, closely combining theoretical research and practical summarization.

The highest goal and requirement of scientific research that the Academy must achieve is “To promptly answer new and complex practical problems; to forecast development trends, strategic situations that must be handled, and to point out bottlenecks that hinder development. To promptly provide the scientific basis for planning the Party’s guidelines and policies, the State’s policies and laws to meet the requirements of national development in the new era, to create consensus within the entire Party and the entire people, to refute erroneous and hostile viewpoints, to contribute to the successful implementation of the revolution to develop new, advanced and modern production methods, and to bring the country firmly into the new era”(19).

To contribute to the development and perfection of theories guiding the implementation of strategies in the new era, “theory as a product of scientific research by the Academy that must create historical progress, strong development of the economy, politics, culture, society, accelerate the process of moving towards socialism of the country, create a better life for the Vietnamese people and people around the world, and so on”(20).

To achieve that goal, it is necessary to renovate “scientific research methods and theories, to delve deeply into practical life, into the activities of the Party and the political system, on the basis of the worldview and methodology of Marxism-Leninism, Ho Chi Minh Thought, especially the historical and dialectical viewpoints to absorb information, analyze, and generalize into theories; to be sensitive to grasp new issues and new developments in the world, and to appropriately absorb the intellectual achievements of humankind to serve the cause of building socialism in Vietnam”(21).

Secondly, practical summarization and theoretical research must closely follow the Political Platform, the Party Congress resolutions, Central Conferences, and State policies; implementing with focus and emphasis to contribute to implementing the National Party Congress Resolution, Central Resolutions, serve the formulation of the Party’s guidelines and orientations, the State’s policies; serve leadership and direction work to meet the requirements of “strongly renewing the leadership method, improving leadership capacity, ruling capacity, ensuring the Party is the great helmsman, bringing our nation forward vigorously” in the new era.

Thirdly, practical summarization and theoretical research are the functions and tasks of the Academy, the tasks of units, each cadre, and each lecturer. During the operation process, we must constantly pay attention to discovering new issues for summarization. Practical summarization and theoretical research must always be associated with training and fostering cadres and aim at providing scientific arguments for the Party and the State in formulating guidelines and policies. To achieve this goal, the implementation process requires close coordination between units, attracting the participation of many people, especially scientists and lecturers. The fundamental factor is that the Academy needs to pay attention to “developing a team of scientists, leaders, and managers with clean ethics, strong political will, and scientific will; renovating the mechanism for building and promoting a team of experts and leading cadres with profound knowledge and close ties to practical activities”(23).

4. Conclusion

Scientific research, practical summarization and theoretical research are the functions, tasks, and regular activities of the Ho Chi Minh National Academy of Politics, which both effectively serves the work of training and fostering cadres and provide scientific arguments and advice to the Party and the State in planning, perfecting, and developing guidelines and policies. In order to improve the quality of research, produce major scientific works, and contribute to the era of national development, the Ho Chi Minh National Academy of Politics is constantly “Focusing leadership and direction on continuing to comprehensively innovate scientific research activities, practical summarization, and theoretical development to produce major scientific works with imprints and scientific value, contributing to the creative application, supplementation, protection, and development of Marxism - Leninism, Ho Chi Minh Thought under new conditions as well as effectively serving the work of training and fostering cadres. Promoting the development of reports and recommendations for the Party and the State, affirming the role as the leading research, advisory and consulting agency for the Party on theoretical work, Party building and building the political system”(24). That is the viewpoint, orientation, and goal that the Ho Chi Minh National Academy of Politics aims for to effectively perform its political functions and tasks in the new era, “the era of development, the era of prosperity under the leadership and rule of the Communist Party, successfully building a socialist Vietnam, with a rich people, a strong country, a democratic, equitable, civilized society, standing on par with the world powers. All people will be prosperous, have a happy life, are supported, developed, and enriched; increasingly able to contribute to the peace, stability, and development of the world, the happiness of humanity, and civilization globally”(25). At the same time, it contributes significantly to the struggle to protect the Party’s ideological foundation, “repel risks and challenges so that the country can develop in a comprehensive, strong manner, making breakthroughs, and rise up”(26).

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Received: December 25, 2024; Revised: January 10, 2025; Approved for publication: January 15, 2025.

l Endnotes:

(1), (2) Ho Chi Minh National Academy of Politics: Marxist - Leninist Philosophy Textbook for advanced political theory training, Political Theory Publishing House, 2021, pp.117, 122.

(3) Ho Chi Minh: Complete Works, vol.11, National Political Publishing House, Hanoi, 2011, p.95.

(4) Decision No. 214-QD/TW dated December 28, 2024, of the Politburo on functions, tasks, and organizational structure of the Ho Chi Minh National Academy of Politics.

(5), (17), (19), (20), (21), (23) PV: Speech by General Secretary and President To Lam at the Ho Chi Minh National Academy of Politics, https://vtv.vn, September 17, 2024.

(6), (9), (18), (24) Nguyen Xuan Thang: The Party Committee of the Ho Chi Minh National Academy of Politics affirms its core leadership role in successfully carrying out assigned political tasks, https://lyluanchinhtri.vn, September 4, 2020.

(7), (10) https://hcma.vn.

(8), (11) Ho Chi Minh National Academy of Politics summarizes scientific activities in 2024 and directions and tasks for 2025.

(12) Speech by Comrade Nguyen Xuan Thang, Politburo member, President of Ho Chi Minh National Academy of Politics at the Conference on Announcing and Implementing the Decision of the 13th Politburo on the functions, tasks, and organizational structure of Ho Chi Minh National Academy of Politics, December 31, 2024.

(13), (14) CPV: Documents of the 13th National Party Congress, vol.II, National Political Publishing House, Hanoi, 2021, pp.232, 234-235.

(15) CPV: Documents of the 13th National Party Congress, vol.I, op. cit., pp.181-182.

(16), (25), (26) Some basic contents about the new era, the era of national progress; strategic orientations to bring the country into the new era, the era of national progress - Media story - Communist Magazine.

(22) To Lam: Continuing to strongly renovate the Party’s leadership and governing methods, an urgent requirement of the new revolutionary stage, https://www.tapchicongsan.org.vn, September 16, 2024.