The Ho Chi Minh National Academy of Politics links theoretical research and practical summarization with providing scientific arguments, advising on planning guidelines 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

Theoretical research and practical summarization are very important steps in the policy cycle. In order to have correct guidelines and policies that meet the requirements of each stage and the development of social life, it is always necessary to summarize practices and research theories. Practical summarization requires accurate and objective assessment of the implementation of policies in practice; clarifying positive aspects, advantages, limitations, shortcomings, and their causes, as well as lessons learned in order to supplement and develop guidelines and policies that are suitable to development requirements.

Throughout the revolutionary leadership process, our Party has taken Marxism - Leninism and Ho Chi Minh Thought as its ideological foundation and compass for action. At the same time, the Party attaches great importance to practical review, research and theoretical development suited to Vietnam’s characteristics and conditions. Through this, it has proposed correct policies, guidelines and decisions, suitable to the requirements of each revolutionary stage, achieving great victories.

According to Marxist - Leninist philosophy, “practice is the entire material-sensory activity of human beings, of a historical social nature, aimed at transforming nature and society”(1). Practice has three basic forms: material production activities; political-social activities; and scientific experimental activities. Of these, 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 special form of practical activities, which play an important role in the development of society.

According to the viewpoints of 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, and regular relationships of things and phenomena expressed by a system of principles, laws, and categories”(2). The basis of theory is practical knowledge and experience. This is a core issue, the basis for summarizing, researching, analyzing, evaluating, and finding the basic relationships and laws of development of things and phenomena. The process of researching and finding the basic relationships with the nature and laws of things and phenomena to generalize into scientific theory is a reflection of the nature of things and phenomena.

The concept of “policy” appears in all 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 become effective in real social life, the policy-making process must be carried out objectively and specifically; it is not only 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 play an important role.

There is a dialectical, unified, and mutually influential relationship between “practice”, “theory”, and “policy”. Material production, socio-political activities, and scientific experiments are the basis and driving force for setting goals and requirements for theoretical development. At the same time, new problems arising from practice and new progressive theoretical thinking also set new development goals and requirements, requiring new policies to promote development. Those new policies are planned based on new progressive scientific foundations, in accordance with the new requirements of real social life.

President Ho Chi Minh affirmed: “Practice without theory is blind. Theory without practice is empty”(3). Therefore, in research and theoretical development, as well as in the process of policy making, summarizing practice is extremely important 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; clarify the causes of advantages and limitations to supplement, improve, and develop theory. On that basis, it orients and formulates new appropriate policies; effectively solves new development requirements posed by practice; to remove “bottlenecks” and obstacles, to open the way and promote social development. This is the requirement for improving the quality of planning the Party’s policies and guidelines, and the State’s policies and laws in the new era, the era of national development.

2. Content

2.1. The Academy’s work of practical summarization, theoretical research, and providing scientific arguments and advice to the Party and the State in formulating policies and strategies

The Ho Chi Minh National Academy of Politics “has the function of being a national center for training and fostering mid- and senior-level leaders and managers, political theory scientists of the Party, the State, the Vietnam Fatherland Front and socio-political organizations; it is also the national center for scientific research on Marxism - Leninism, Ho Chi Minh Thought, theory on renewal lines, the Party’s orientations, and State policies and laws; conducts research in political science, leadership and management science, administrative science, state management and public governance to serve teaching and learning; contributes scientific arguments for formulating and perfecting the Party’s lines and orientations, and the State’s policies and laws in the cause of building and defending the Fatherland; firmly protects the Party’s ideological foundation and struggles against wrongful and hostile viewpoints; provides advisory support in theoretical work, cultural, literary and artistic criticism; and provides orientation, management, and coordination in scientific activities of the Party’s central bodies”.

In scientific research, the Academy has the following tasks: a) Researching Marxist - Leninist theory, Ho Chi Minh Thought, the Party’s guidelines and policies, the State’s policies and laws; researching political science, leadership and management science, a number of social sciences and humanities; summarizing practices, developing theories on socialism and the path to socialism in Vietnam. b) Researching and compiling the history of the Communist Party of Vietnam and the history of the world revolutionary movement; inspecting and summarizing the research and compilation of the Party’s history. c) Researching, developing, supplementing programs, materials, and organizing the compilation and revision of textbooks and learning materials in the training and fostering programs of the Ho Chi Minh National Academy of Politics. d) Presiding over and coordinating with relevant agencies to research and propose innovation in the areas of political theory training and fostering programs in the system of party schools and universities, and colleges nationwide.

In participating in policy and strategy planning, the Academy has the task of researching, advising, proposing, providing scientific arguments and consulting the Party’s Central Committee and the State in planning, improving and developing guidelines, policies and strategies for national construction and development, Party and State building, 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 main and fundamental tasks of the Academy. Research on Marxist - Leninist theory, Ho Chi Minh Thought, and theory on renovation plays an important role in implementing the task of training and fostering cadres and participating in planning guidelines, policies, and development policies for the country. The subjects trained and fostered at the Academy include strategic-level cadres, those planned at the strategic level, strategic-level consultants, provincial-level and key district-level managers,... who are the subjects planning or participating in planning policies of the central and local levels. Training and fostering the above-mentioned cadres not only provides knowledge of political theory but also provides methodologies and scientific arguments so that they have more information, knowledge, and capacity in researching, building, advising, and promulgating guidelines, policies, and development policies of the country and localities. Therefore, it can be said that the task of training and fostering cadres of the Academy is also an indirect task of orienting the planning of guidelines, policies, and strategies.

In that spirit, in recent years, especially from 2016 to present, the Party Committee, Board of Directors and the President of the Academy have spent much time focusing on leadership and direct, comprehensive guidance for practical review, research and theoretical development, making these activities increasingly high-quality and effective, particularly producing major scientific works of practical and scientific value, which General Secretary To Lam assessed as follows: “Scientific research work has witnessed clear changes in a practical direction, closely linked to the practical requirements of the renovation process...; there are dozens of Reports sent to the Politburo, the Secretariat, the National Assembly, the Government, the Sub-Committee on Summarizing 40 Years of Renovation, hundreds of reports providing comments, advice and criticism to central and local ministries, branches, providing many scientific arguments for the planning of guidelines and policies of the Party, State and the direction and administration of all levels and branches at central and local levels”(5). Thereby, it has made an important contribution to creatively applying, supplementing, and developing Marxism - Leninism and Ho Chi Minh Thought in new conditions. At the same time, it has provided sharp arguments to protect the Party’s ideological foundation; smashing the hostile forces’ distortions of the Party’s guidelines and policies, and the State’s policies and laws.

The practical summarization and theoretical research seriously and scientifically conducted by the Academy have significantly contributed to improving the quality of teaching materials, effectively serving the work of training and fostering cadres. At the same time, it has significantly and practically contributed to providing scientific arguments and advice to the Party’s Central Committee and the State, directly to the Politburo, the Secretariat, the National Assembly, the Government and the Prime Minister in planning and perfecting the Party’s guidelines and policies, the State’s policies and laws on national development, Party building and political system building. Affirming the role of the Academy as the leading agency of the Party’s Central Committee in researching political theory, leadership, and management science, and in consulting and advising on renovation theory.

During the 12th Congress term (2016 - 2020) and from 2021 to the present, scientific research activities, practical summarization and theoretical research have been conducted synchronously and in-depth; closely following the Resolution of the National Party Congress, the Political Platform, the direction of the Party Central Committee, directly to the Politburo, the Secretariat as well as the programs and plans of the Government. In the 5 years 2015 - 2020, the Academy has “successfully organized 26 international conferences; 24 national conferences; 77 ministerial conferences; 338 grassroots conferences and many scientific seminars at the institute and faculty levels, attracting the participation of many domestic and international scientists in creating positive spillovers in society...; deployed 218 national-level or centrally-assigned science and technology projects and tasks; 148 key ministerial-level scientific projects; 348 ministerial-level projects; 04 investigation and survey projects; 70 non-decentralized grassroots projects; 932 decentralized grassroots projects”(6).

From May 2022 to 2023, the Academy deployed over 1,000 scientific projects and tasks; including more than 700 projects and scientific tasks; chaired the organization of more than 350 conferences, seminars, scientific discussions at all levels along with many research tasks, field surveys, scientific information and about over 2,000 socialized scientific works. Of which, the Academy deployed 62 ministerial-level scientific projects, including 31 ministerial-level projects transferred in 2021-2022 and 31 new projects deployed in 2022, completed and accepted in 2023. Research results are provided according to application addresses and directly applied to training and fostering of cadres. Deploying research on 277 decentralized and non-decentralized basic projects, of which 140 projects are from the Academy’s scientific operating budget, 137 basic projects are from the autonomous budget of affiliated Academies(7).

In 2024, the Academy deployed 37 sub-projects 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 to the cause of national construction, development, and defense of the Fatherland in the renovation period (from 1986 to present, with orientation to 2030 and vision to 2045). The Academy deployed about 90 projects, programs, projects at ministerial and equivalent levels; 10 scientific tasks, projects assigned by the Director; 15 joint scientific projects and tasks; 07 basic investigation projects and 04 scientific projects; carried out 225 grassroots projects; organized 55 scientific seminars, including 03 international seminars, 15 national seminars, 37 seminars and talks 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; organized 65 grassroots scientific seminars; organized about 60 scientific information sessions and completed a series of 06 studies to summarize 40 years of renovation.

The Academy also 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 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. Organized 03 in-depth ministerial-level scientific seminars on protecting the Party’s ideological foundation(8).

Through scientific research activities and practical summaries, the Academy has produced many specialized reports and proposed many recommendations of high scientific and practical value to the Politburo, the Secretariat, the National Assembly, and the Government, contributing practically 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 24 reports and recommendations to submit to the Politburo and the Secretariat; in 2019 and early 2020, it prepared more than 40 reports and recommendations to send to the Subcommittees to draft documents for the 13th National Party Congress... Notable programs include: Research on scientific arguments to ensure the 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, summarize, propose supplementation 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 directions to protect the Party’s ideological foundation, fight against erroneous and hostile views in the fields of ideology, theory, literature and art; The program to collect documents and write biographies of outstanding senior leaders of the Party and the Vietnamese revolution; The project “Incorporating human rights content into the education program in the national education system”(9), and so on.

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

The studies provided scientific arguments, answered urgent theoretical and practical questions on building the governing Party and the socialist rule-of-law State in Vietnam; supplemented and improved national development policies in the fields of politics, economics, culture, society, national defense, security, foreign affairs, ethnicity, and religion; analyzed, evaluated, and explained issues arising in the process of putting policies into practice, thereby proposing policy recommendations to the Party, the State, central and local ministries and branches.

A number of recommendations received positive feedback from Party and State leaders and have been directed to be sent to relevant agencies, units and localities for application(10).

In 2024, policy recommendation and advisory activities have been given increased emphasis by the Academy in terms of quality... he Academy researched and prepared 51 advisory documents and comments for central ministries, agencies and localities, serving line and policy formulation(11); and submitted 27 reports and recommendations to the Politburo, the Secretariat, the Government and the Subcommittees drafting documents for the 14th National Party Congress(12).

2.2. Several tasks and solutions to improve the quality of theoretical research, practical summarization, providing scientific arguments and advice to the Party and the State in formulating guidelines, policies, and strategies

The 13th National Party Congress pointed out: “When planning policies, guidelines and solutions, we must closely follow and originate from reality, assess impacts, balance and allocate resources and organize effective implementation”(13), and at the same time stated: “Raise the Party’s theoretical thinking, promote practical summarization, theoretical research, promptly provide scientific basis for planning the Party’s guidelines and policies, and the State’s policies and laws. Summarize 40 years of renovation practice to supplement and develop the Party’s theory... Focus on leading and directing research on difficult and complicated theoretical issues arising from practice or persisting for a long time”(14). “Promote the summarization of practices, theoretical research, and perfect the theoretical system on the path of renovation, socialism, and the path to socialism in Vietnam. Focus on updating results of practical summarization and theoretical research; theoretical issues that have matured and become clear, so as to develop and perfect the Party’s lines and orientations on national construction and defense of the Fatherland”(15).

In particular, to bring the country into a new era, this task is especially meaningful in providing scientific arguments for the Party to formulate and issue policies and resolutions that are “Correct and meet the requirements, tasks, paths, and development methods of the country and the nation...; must have vision, scientific nature, practicality, and feasibility; create 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, fostering staff and scientific and theoretical research, contributing to advising and planning policies and guidelines for national construction and development, making worthy contributions to the renovation process”(17).

In that spirit, the Academy “Promotes the work of summarizing practices, researching and developing Marxist - Leninist theories, Ho Chi Minh Thought, the Party’s guidelines and policies, 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, 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, of General Secretary To Lam, and of the Party Committee and Board of Directors of the Academy, specifically:

Firstly, continue to strongly innovate 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 “respond promptly to new and complex practical issues; forecast development trends, strategic situations that must be handled, and point out bottlenecks that hinder development. Provide timely 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, create consensus within the entire Party and the entire people, refute erroneous and hostile viewpoints, contribute to the successful implementation of the revolution to develop new, advanced and modern production methods, and 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 is a scientific research product of the Academy that must create historical progress, strong development of economics, politics, culture, society, accelerate the country’s progress towards socialism, create a better life for the Vietnamese people and for people around the world...”(20).

To achieve that goal, it is necessary to innovate “scientific research methods and theories, to delve into real life, into the activities of the Party and the political system, on the basis of the worldview and methodology of Marxism - Leninism and Ho Chi Minh Thought, especially the historical and dialectical viewpoints to acquire information, analyze, and generalize it into theories; to be sensitive in grasping 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).

An important task of scientific research is to serve the protection of the Party’s ideological foundation, specifically the protection of Marxism - Leninism and Ho Chi Minh Thought; the protection of the Party’s policies and guidelines; the protection of the Party, the regime, the State, and the people. It is also required to summarize practices to objectively, correctly, and effectively evaluate the Party’s policies and guidelines, the State’s policies and laws in social life, thereby smashing the hostile forces’ distortions of the Party’s policies and guidelines and leadership role. Through summarizing practices, implementing policies and guidelines, and explaining new issues and issues with different opinions, we can create consensus in perception, thereby proposing supplements, adjustments, or promulgating new policies to ensure compliance with new development requirements.

Secondly, practical summarization and theoretical research must adhere to the Political Platform, the Party Congress Resolutions, Central Committee conferences and State policies; be carried out with focus and emphasis to contribute to implementing the National Party Congress Resolutions and Central Committee Resolutions, serving the formulation of the Party’s lines and orientations and the State’s policies; serving the leadership and direction work to meet the requirements of “strongly innovating leadership methods, improving leadership capacity, governing capacity, ensuring that the Party is the great helmsman, leading our nation strongly forward”(22) in the new era.

Thirdly, summarizing practices and theoretical research is the function and task of the Academy, the task of units, each cadre, and lecturer. During the operation process, we must regularly pay attention to discovering new issues for summarization. Summarizing practices 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 realize that goal, the implementation process requires close coordination between units, attracting the participation of many people, especially scientists and lecturers, in giving comments and discussions. The fundamental factor is that the Academy needs to pay attention to “developing a team of scientific cadres, leaders and managers with clean moral qualities, strong political will, and scientific courage; renovating the mechanism for building and promoting a team of experts and leading cadres with profound knowledge and close ties to practical activities”(23).

3. Conclusion

Scientific research, practical summarization, and theoretical development are the functions, tasks, and regular activities of the Ho Chi Minh National Academy of Politics, both effectively serving the work of training and fostering cadres and providing scientific arguments and advice to the Party and the State in planning, improving, and developing guidelines and policies. To improve research quality and produce major scientific works that contribute to the nation’s rising era, the Academy is “Focusing on leadership and direction to continue comprehensively renewing scientific research, practical review and theoretical development activities in order to generate major scientific works with distinct marks and scientific value, contributing to creatively applying, supplementing, protecting and developing Marxism - Leninism and Ho Chi Minh Thought in new conditions, as well as serving the training and fostering of cadres. Promote the building of recommendation reports for the Party and the State, affirming the role of the leading agency for the Party in theoretical work, Party building and political system building”(24). That is the viewpoint, orientation, and goal that the Ho Chi Minh National Academy of Politics aims for in order 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, a rich people, a strong country, a democratic, equitable, civilized society, stay on par with the world powers. All people have a prosperous and happy life, are supported, developed, and enriched; contribute more and more to the peace, stability, development of the world, the happiness of humanity and global civilization”(25)At the same time, it makes an important contribution to the struggle to protect the Party’s ideological foundation, “repel risks and challenges so that the country can develop comprehensively, strongly, break through and take off”(26).

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

Author’s email: vinhha.nxd@gmail.com

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) Read: 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) Reporter: 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 implementing 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 the Ho Chi Minh National Academy of Politics at the Conference to announce and implement the decision of the 13th Politburo on the functions, tasks, and organizational structure of the Ho Chi Minh National Academy of Politics, on 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 rise; strategic orientations to bring the country into the new era, the era of national rise - Media story - Communist Review.

(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.