Mechanism to promote proactivity and self-reliance spirit among ethnic minorities in socio-economic development

Assoc. Prof., Dr. NGUYEN AN NINH
Dr. NGUYEN THI THU HUYEN
Institute of Scientific Socialism,
Ho Chi Minh National Academy of Politics

1. Introduction

During the process of leading the revolution, our Party has increasingly focused on promoting the proactivity and self-reliance of ethnic minorities in socio-economic development. However, alongside the achievements, there are still certain limitations. Therefore, it is necessary to have proper scientific understanding to develop mechanisms that effectively implement this policy. To promote the proactivity and self-reliance of ethnic minorities, ensuring that they are not only beneficiaries of policy but also the central actors and implementers of these policies, several promotional mechanisms are needed.

2. Realize economic equality

Our Party’s guideline on ethnic affairs is unified under the strategic motto: Ethnic groups are equal, united, mutually supportive, and help one another in their development. Among these, equality between ethnic groups is highlighted as the primary focus and a key aspect in implementing socio-economic policies in ethnic minority areas. However, economic equality still needs to be studied more deeply, both in terms of understanding and in the development and implementation of socio-economic policies for ethnic minority areas.

Some scientific insights that need to be noted in this field are:

Firstly, some new perceptions about the concept of equality in the economic field for ethnic minorities

Global understanding of economic equality includes rights related to labor, property ownership, benefiting from labor, and fairness in development opportunities, etc. Article 23 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights by the United Nations affirms:

1) Everyone has the right to work, to freely choose employment, to enjoy fair and favorable working conditions, and to be protected against unemployment. 2) Everyone works equally, everyone gets paid equally, no discrimination. 3) Working people are paid adequate and fair wages, sufficient to ensure for themselves and their families deserving living conditions and, if necessary, supplemented by other social protection measures”(2).

A new perspective emphasized in recent international studies is equality in economic development opportunities, including participating in economic activities with equal rights and benefits; equal access to resources; equal preparation for “participating” in socio-economic activities (studying, vocational training, and having opportunities to access employment, etc.); to share and enjoy equitably social benefits and social security, etc.

All of the above aspects are implemented as civil rights, regardless of ethnicity, religion, gender, etc.

An important point in the new understanding of economic equality in our country is the significant gap in access to development opportunities between ethnic minorities in remote areas and those in lowland regions. The gap is due to difficult natural conditions, low quality of labor resources, slow socio-economic development, people having difficulty in accessing basic social services, and a high rate of poor households (nearly 50% of the country’s poor households are in ethnic minority regions). Many social issues also remain such as lack of accommodation and inadequate living conditions, electricity, clean water source, standard sanitation facilities, and so on.

It is important to recognize that it is not just the disparity in living standards and development levels, but rather the disparity in development opportunities that is the major issue for ethnic minority regions in our country today. Therefore, to achieve economic equality, attention must be paid to establishing equality in economic development opportunities for ethnic minorities.

Secondly, the method of implementing equality in the economic field with ethnic minorities in recent decades.

The implementation of economic equality for ethnic minorities in recent times has mainly focused on narrowing the gap in socio-economic development levels in ethnic minority areas. The correct leadership of the Party and the State and the efforts of ethnic minority people have brought about many positive changes. In addition to economic development and improving the lives of people, the gap in socio-economic development in some ethnic minority areas is increasingly widening compared to that in urban and delta areas. The main reason is that external support has not fully transformed into internal strength.

In the process of socio-economic development in ethnic minority areas, the major relationship between economic policies and guidelines in other fields is sometimes not simultaneous, synchronous, or aligned, leading to reduced effectiveness in policy implementation. The main reason is that ethnic minorities are not really the subjects of the development process. Therefore, there needs to be an overarching direction to synchronize the policy system. That is a matter of promoting the initiative and self-aware engagement of the people.

Thirdly, regarding the relationship between implementing economic equality and “promoting the positive, and self-reliant spirit of ethnic minorities”

World experience and the country’s renovation process show that: To overcome the socio-economic gap (due to history and other factors), State policies, allocation of funds and public investment resources must be the key factors.

Many countries around the world identify the State as the leading entity in investment and development for ethnic minority areas. China is a prime example. From the 2000s up to now, the Chinese Party and State have had many programs for “social and economic development in the Northwest region”, implementing the policy of “prospering the border, enriching the people”, and steadfast policies of building infrastructure, adjusting economic structures, developing education, and strengthening the capacity for ethnic minority areas.

China’s experience over the past two decades shows that the State plays a leading role in policy planning, proactively increasing investment, concretizing program goals, while the role of ethnic minorities as active participants is increasingly emphasized. As a result, the effectiveness of socio-economic development programs in ethnic minority areas has been increasingly improved.

In Vietnam, the combination of increasing the State investment with promoting the proactive and self-reliant spirit of ethnic minorities to achieve economic equality still has a number of problems: some programs are unsustainable and ineffective in the long term. Three causes are identified: lack of coordination, not continuous, and not promoting internal strength. Among these, the insufficient promotion of internal strengths is a key factor, leading to the lack of sustainable effectiveness in these programs.

3. Shifting policy from support to investment

Summarizing the experience of socio-economic development in ethnic minority areas, Conclusion No. 65-KL/TW dated October 30, 2019, of the Politburo on continuing to implement Resolution No. 24-NQ/TW of the 13th Central Executive Committee of the Party on ethnic affairs in the new situation pointed out a number of limitations in recent years as follows: policies and laws that have been enacted primarily focus on support rather than prioritizing investment in the socio-economic development of ethnic minority and mountainous areas. There has been insufficient emphasis on leveraging the potential, advantages, and culture of each region and each ethnic group; the connection between ethnic minorities and mountainous areas with developed areas has not been promoted; Some policies have not created motivation for ethnic minorities to rise up and become self-reliant in their lives.

In general, two problems need to be addressed: policies have mainly been supportive rather than investment oriented, and have not created motivation for ethnic minorities to rise up and become self-reliant. Regarding this issue, it is necessary to clearly understand the following:

Firstly, the focus on supportive policies for ethnic minority areas in recent times is a natural historical solution.

Support policies have the following characteristics: from orientation, goals to resources, implementation process, evaluation and policy adjustment, etc., are all associated with the role of the State. This proactive approach addresses the gap between ethnic minority areas and other regions in the process of socio-economic development.

In certain stages of the development of ethnic minority areas, supportive policies and the supporting role of the State are necessary. In the process of transitioning to a socialist-oriented market economy, promoting industrialization, modernization, and integration, ethnic minority areas need and must have a “push” from public resources. The historical challenges faced by ethnic minority regions are significant and beyond the capacity of localities to address on their own, etc.

Moreover, only the State has the capacity and resources to invest in building infrastructure in ethnic minority areas such as transportation, education, healthcare, and other socio-economic infrastructure. From 2003 to 2020, the Vietnamese government concentrated resources on socio-economic development in ethnic minority and mountainous areas, investing 250 trillion VND from 2003-2008, 690 trillion VND from 2011-2015, and 998 trillion VND (equivalent to over 40 billion USD) from 2016-2020 (3).

To ensure the socialist orientation of the country’s development process with the goal of building a democratic, equitable, and civilized society, proactively addressing the challenges and gaps in ethnic minority areas needs to first stem from strategic thinking and the role of the State

Secondly, a support-based approach to more proactive methods

A summary of the policy development and implementation shows that policies for ethnic minority areas have had many adjustments in the direction of combining support with many other methods to actively promote the role of ethnic minorities.

Social policy credit is a special form of credit with policy characteristics, primarily aimed at non-profit objectives. It targets the poor and other policy beneficiaries as defined by the government. The capital source for these loans is mainly from the state budget; includes preferential lending mechanisms (simple lending procedures, low interest rates, most loan programs do not requiring collateral, risk handling mechanisms, etc.). Currently, social policy credit is one of the key tools and solutions of the Party and the State in implementing 3 national target programs on sustainable poverty reduction, new rural construction, and socio-economic development in ethnic minority areas(4).

The process of renovating the State’s investment methods can be summarized as follows: From 1986-2000, the approach was mainly support, with grants provided without repayment obligations. From 2000-2010, the approach combined State investment grants and interest-free or low-interest loans (conditional lending). From 2010 until now, the State has increased lending, while still providing some grants, but encouraging investment partnerships.

In short, the policy has direction shifted towards increasing lending, and reducing grants, encouraging the people to proactively carry out cooperation and investment. The State’s support role is still very large, but the methods of support are gradually being renovated towards actively promoting the role of ethnic minorities.

Thirdly, although there are policies to create motivation, socio-economic development in ethnic minority areas still requires the supporting role of the State, society, and the market.

Previously, the general perception was that the main supporting entity was the State, but now, the supporting entity for socio-economic development in ethnic minority areas has expanded to include the State, society, and the market. This is also one of the 10 major relationships addressed and guided for resolution by the 13th Party Congress.

Through the methods such as “grants, loans, and investment cooperating”, the relationship between the State, society, and the market can be seen as a form of socialization in the process of shifting policy from support to investment to create more motivation for ethnic minorities.

The State is gradually shifting from resource support to a combination of resource and policy support, transitioning from the role of “rowing the boat to steering the boat” to unlock additional support and investment resources from society and the market. These two subjects will suggest more solutions to issues related to mechanisms and policies. For example, currently, socio-economic development policies in ethnic minority areas still lack the connection between long-term development needs and addressing immediate needs for business loans. There is also a lack of synchronization and timeliness in the implementation of credit policies combining investment support policies with training and technical guidance for ethnic minorities.

4. Overcome the shortcomings of the old mechanism and unleashing the internal strength of the key players in the development process in ethnic minority areas

To promote the proactivity and self-reliance of ethnic minorities, it is necessary to overcome the negative consequences of the “request-give” mechanism. This mechanism emerged simultaneously with the dominate role of the State, with policy orientations, programs, projects, public resources, and so on.

Along with the process of renovating the management mechanism, the “request-give” mechanism is gradually being overcome in many areas. However, in the field of ethnic affairs, due to the significant role of the state, public resources are the main force, programs and projects creating socio-economic breakthroughs in ethnic minority areas are all State-funded or combined with prestigious international partners (such as UNDP of the United Nations). As a result, some thinking and implementation methods are still influenced by the old mechanism. This is unavoidable, causing negative consequences in many aspects, such as the dependence and passivity of some local governments or a segment of the ethnic minority population.

The struggle with the remnants of the old mechanism and perfecting the new management mechanism in the field of ethnic affairs today should be considered a shared mission among the agencies responsible for formulating and implementing ethnic policies, as well as the ethnic minorities themselves, who are both policy implementers and beneficiaries. The policy of “the people know, the people discuss, the people implement, the people monitor, and the people bebefit” needs to be concretized through a “joint participation” approach.

This is also a lesson learned from the state management of ethnic issues in other countries. The characteristic of this method is that ethnic minorities are involved and participate in all policy stages, from shaping ideas to formulating, implementing, supervising implementation, receiving feedback, and adjusting policies for the next phase. “Joint participation” is a manifestation of the democratization process of political - economic - social life.

5. Meeting the objective demands of the market mechanism and contributing to building a market economy mindset among ethnic minorities

The socialist-oriented market economy in our country today is “the overall model for socio-economic development”. Many ethnic minority areas and ethnic minority people have participated in this model at many different levels. Accordingly, to promote the proactivity and self-reliance of ethnic minorities in socio-economic development, it is necessary to pay due attention to the following issues related to the market mechanism:

Firstly, it is necessary to recognize the positive aspects of the market mechanism for the process of socio-economic restructuring in ethnic minority areas.

The market mechanism plays a role in stimulating the activities of economic subjects and creating favourable conditions for their free activities, thus making the economy develop dynamically and effectively. Currently, economic restructuring in agriculture in many ethnic minority areas in our country mostly starts from a low baseline, commonly characterized by small-scale commodity agriculture, and in some places, even subsistence farming or natural resource exploitation, etc. The flexible regulation of the market mechanism, which is highly adaptable to changing socio-economic conditions, aligning social production with social needs, will promote the development of commodity production. Therefore, to develop the economy of ethnic minority regions, it is necessary to appropriately apply the market mechanism.

The market mechanism that optimally distributes economic resources based on market principles with the highest efficiency will contribute to the effective exploitation and use of natural resources, people, and the environment in ethnic minority areas. Some difficulties and limitations of mountainous and remote areas can also be solved through market mechanisms.

The market mechanism stimulates technological innovation, rationalization of production, product innovation, production organization methods, and business management, thereby improving economic efficiency. Through this, the market will bring compatibility between the volume and structure of production with that of society’s needs, thereby being able to better meet the diverse needs of products and services. The backwardness in the economic structure and product structure of ethnic minority areas can also see positive and more diverse changes.

Although some negative aspects of the market economy have been exposed and need to be resolved, it must be affirmed that the emergence of the market mechanism has the ability to strongly promote the potential and strengths of the ethnic minority areas.

Secondly, the market is not a “magic wand” to solve all poverty and underdevelopment in ethnic minority areas, but all successful examples of economic development in ethnic minority regions in our country over the years are associated with some form of commodity production model.

It has long been believed that the lack of socio-economic infrastructure is the leading cause. However, the reality of development in ethnic minority areas shows that the lack of a market economic mindset is the core factor. The evidence is that in many ethnic minority areas, infrastructure has improved, but production methods and the people’s mindsets have not changed much, leading to poverty, underdevelopment, and so on.

Therefore, building a new mindset, overcoming the barriers of small production and outdated customs and practices, and aiming to build a market economic mindset, with the desire to rise out of poverty, needs to become a top priority in promoting the proactivity and will to rise of ethnic minorities.

New insights from summarizing our Party’s experience shows that: Inadequacies, limitations, or lack of success are all mainly due to “subjective reasons”. The participating subjects that constitute that subjective factor, including Party organizations, State management agencies, political systems, and ethnic minorities. Therefore, for sustainable socio-economic development in ethnic minority areas, overcoming recent limitations requires focusing on promoting the role of the entire Party, the entire people, the entire army, and the entire political system.

Policies for socio-economic development, national defense, and security in mountainous ethnic minority areas must be comprehensive, aiming at sustainable development and promoting the advantages and potential of the region and the spirit of self-reliance of the ethnic minorities who themselves must be the subjects to solve their own problems, with their own internal strength and in their own way, because development is always a process of self-motivation.

6. Conclusion

In the ethnic affairs of the Party and the State of Vietnam, the above four mechanisms have partly been realized in the policy-making process. However, during the specific implementation process, due to a number of objective and subjective reasons, these mechanisms are sometimes not applied properly, resulting in their effectiveness not being fully realized. In the coming time, it is necessary to continue promoting the implementation of these mechanisms so that ethnic minorities are truly the center, the subject, and at the same time the beneficiaries of the policy.

_________________

Received: January 22, 2024; Revised: May 18, 2024; Approved for publication: May 22, 2024.

Endnotes:

(1) CPV: Documents of the 13th National Party Congress, vol.I, National Political Publishing House, Hanoi, 2021, p.170.

(2) Legal database: Declaration of Human Rights, United Nations (UN).

(3) Hoang Phuong: Renovating the work of building and organizing the implementation of ethnic policies, Communist Party of Vietnam Online newspaper, November 22, 2022.

(4) Nguyen Lam Thanh: Promoting the role of social policy credit for ethnic minorities, Communist Review, October 2023.

During the process of leading the revolution, our Party has increasingly focused on promoting the proactivity and self-reliance of ethnic minorities in socio-economic development. However, alongside the achievements, there are still certain limitations. Therefore, it is necessary to have proper scientific understanding to develop mechanisms that effectively implement this policy. To promote the proactivity and self-reliance of ethnic minorities, ensuring that they are not only beneficiaries of policy but also the central actors and implementers of these policies, several promotional mechanisms are needed.

2. Realize economic equality

Our Party’s guideline on ethnic affairs is unified under the strategic motto: Ethnic groups are equal, united, mutually supportive, and help one another in their development. Among these, equality between ethnic groups is highlighted as the primary focus and a key aspect in implementing socio-economic policies in ethnic minority areas. However, economic equality still needs to be studied more deeply, both in terms of understanding and in the development and implementation of socio-economic policies for ethnic minority areas.

Some scientific insights that need to be noted in this field are:

Firstly, some new perceptions about the concept of equality in the economic field for ethnic minorities

Global understanding of economic equality includes rights related to labor, property ownership, benefiting from labor, and fairness in development opportunities, etc. Article 23 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights by the United Nations affirms:

1) Everyone has the right to work, to freely choose employment, to enjoy fair and favorable working conditions, and to be protected against unemployment. 2) Everyone works equally, everyone gets paid equally, no discrimination. 3) Working people are paid adequate and fair wages, sufficient to ensure for themselves and their families deserving living conditions and, if necessary, supplemented by other social protection measures”(2).

A new perspective emphasized in recent international studies is equality in economic development opportunities, including participating in economic activities with equal rights and benefits; equal access to resources; equal preparation for “participating” in socio-economic activities (studying, vocational training, and having opportunities to access employment, etc.); to share and enjoy equitably social benefits and social security, etc.

All of the above aspects are implemented as civil rights, regardless of ethnicity, religion, gender, etc.

An important point in the new understanding of economic equality in our country is the significant gap in access to development opportunities between ethnic minorities in remote areas and those in lowland regions. The gap is due to difficult natural conditions, low quality of labor resources, slow socio-economic development, people having difficulty in accessing basic social services, and a high rate of poor households (nearly 50% of the country’s poor households are in ethnic minority regions). Many social issues also remain such as lack of accommodation and inadequate living conditions, electricity, clean water source, standard sanitation facilities, and so on.

It is important to recognize that it is not just the disparity in living standards and development levels, but rather the disparity in development opportunities that is the major issue for ethnic minority regions in our country today. Therefore, to achieve economic equality, attention must be paid to establishing equality in economic development opportunities for ethnic minorities.

Secondly, the method of implementing equality in the economic field with ethnic minorities in recent decades.

The implementation of economic equality for ethnic minorities in recent times has mainly focused on narrowing the gap in socio-economic development levels in ethnic minority areas. The correct leadership of the Party and the State and the efforts of ethnic minority people have brought about many positive changes. In addition to economic development and improving the lives of people, the gap in socio-economic development in some ethnic minority areas is increasingly widening compared to that in urban and delta areas. The main reason is that external support has not fully transformed into internal strength.

In the process of socio-economic development in ethnic minority areas, the major relationship between economic policies and guidelines in other fields is sometimes not simultaneous, synchronous, or aligned, leading to reduced effectiveness in policy implementation. The main reason is that ethnic minorities are not really the subjects of the development process. Therefore, there needs to be an overarching direction to synchronize the policy system. That is a matter of promoting the initiative and self-aware engagement of the people.

Thirdly, regarding the relationship between implementing economic equality and “promoting the positive, and self-reliant spirit of ethnic minorities”

World experience and the country’s renovation process show that: To overcome the socio-economic gap (due to history and other factors), State policies, allocation of funds and public investment resources must be the key factors.

Many countries around the world identify the State as the leading entity in investment and development for ethnic minority areas. China is a prime example. From the 2000s up to now, the Chinese Party and State have had many programs for “social and economic development in the Northwest region”, implementing the policy of “prospering the border, enriching the people”, and steadfast policies of building infrastructure, adjusting economic structures, developing education, and strengthening the capacity for ethnic minority areas.

China’s experience over the past two decades shows that the State plays a leading role in policy planning, proactively increasing investment, concretizing program goals, while the role of ethnic minorities as active participants is increasingly emphasized. As a result, the effectiveness of socio-economic development programs in ethnic minority areas has been increasingly improved.

In Vietnam, the combination of increasing the State investment with promoting the proactive and self-reliant spirit of ethnic minorities to achieve economic equality still has a number of problems: some programs are unsustainable and ineffective in the long term. Three causes are identified: lack of coordination, not continuous, and not promoting internal strength. Among these, the insufficient promotion of internal strengths is a key factor, leading to the lack of sustainable effectiveness in these programs.

3. Shifting policy from support to investment

Summarizing the experience of socio-economic development in ethnic minority areas, Conclusion No. 65-KL/TW dated October 30, 2019, of the Politburo on continuing to implement Resolution No. 24-NQ/TW of the 13th Central Executive Committee of the Party on ethnic affairs in the new situation pointed out a number of limitations in recent years as follows: policies and laws that have been enacted primarily focus on support rather than prioritizing investment in the socio-economic development of ethnic minority and mountainous areas. There has been insufficient emphasis on leveraging the potential, advantages, and culture of each region and each ethnic group; the connection between ethnic minorities and mountainous areas with developed areas has not been promoted; Some policies have not created motivation for ethnic minorities to rise up and become self-reliant in their lives.

In general, two problems need to be addressed: policies have mainly been supportive rather than investment oriented, and have not created motivation for ethnic minorities to rise up and become self-reliant. Regarding this issue, it is necessary to clearly understand the following:

Firstly, the focus on supportive policies for ethnic minority areas in recent times is a natural historical solution.

Support policies have the following characteristics: from orientation, goals to resources, implementation process, evaluation and policy adjustment, etc., are all associated with the role of the State. This proactive approach addresses the gap between ethnic minority areas and other regions in the process of socio-economic development.

In certain stages of the development of ethnic minority areas, supportive policies and the supporting role of the State are necessary. In the process of transitioning to a socialist-oriented market economy, promoting industrialization, modernization, and integration, ethnic minority areas need and must have a “push” from public resources. The historical challenges faced by ethnic minority regions are significant and beyond the capacity of localities to address on their own, etc.

Moreover, only the State has the capacity and resources to invest in building infrastructure in ethnic minority areas such as transportation, education, healthcare, and other socio-economic infrastructure. From 2003 to 2020, the Vietnamese government concentrated resources on socio-economic development in ethnic minority and mountainous areas, investing 250 trillion VND from 2003-2008, 690 trillion VND from 2011-2015, and 998 trillion VND (equivalent to over 40 billion USD) from 2016-2020 (3).

To ensure the socialist orientation of the country’s development process with the goal of building a democratic, equitable, and civilized society, proactively addressing the challenges and gaps in ethnic minority areas needs to first stem from strategic thinking and the role of the State

Secondly, a support-based approach to more proactive methods

A summary of the policy development and implementation shows that policies for ethnic minority areas have had many adjustments in the direction of combining support with many other methods to actively promote the role of ethnic minorities.

Social policy credit is a special form of credit with policy characteristics, primarily aimed at non-profit objectives. It targets the poor and other policy beneficiaries as defined by the government. The capital source for these loans is mainly from the state budget; includes preferential lending mechanisms (simple lending procedures, low interest rates, most loan programs do not requiring collateral, risk handling mechanisms, etc.). Currently, social policy credit is one of the key tools and solutions of the Party and the State in implementing 3 national target programs on sustainable poverty reduction, new rural construction, and socio-economic development in ethnic minority areas(4).

The process of renovating the State’s investment methods can be summarized as follows: From 1986-2000, the approach was mainly support, with grants provided without repayment obligations. From 2000-2010, the approach combined State investment grants and interest-free or low-interest loans (conditional lending). From 2010 until now, the State has increased lending, while still providing some grants, but encouraging investment partnerships.

In short, the policy has direction shifted towards increasing lending, and reducing grants, encouraging the people to proactively carry out cooperation and investment. The State’s support role is still very large, but the methods of support are gradually being renovated towards actively promoting the role of ethnic minorities.

Thirdly, although there are policies to create motivation, socio-economic development in ethnic minority areas still requires the supporting role of the State, society, and the market.

Previously, the general perception was that the main supporting entity was the State, but now, the supporting entity for socio-economic development in ethnic minority areas has expanded to include the State, society, and the market. This is also one of the 10 major relationships addressed and guided for resolution by the 13th Party Congress.

Through the methods such as “grants, loans, and investment cooperating”, the relationship between the State, society, and the market can be seen as a form of socialization in the process of shifting policy from support to investment to create more motivation for ethnic minorities.

The State is gradually shifting from resource support to a combination of resource and policy support, transitioning from the role of “rowing the boat to steering the boat” to unlock additional support and investment resources from society and the market. These two subjects will suggest more solutions to issues related to mechanisms and policies. For example, currently, socio-economic development policies in ethnic minority areas still lack the connection between long-term development needs and addressing immediate needs for business loans. There is also a lack of synchronization and timeliness in the implementation of credit policies combining investment support policies with training and technical guidance for ethnic minorities.

4. Overcome the shortcomings of the old mechanism and unleashing the internal strength of the key players in the development process in ethnic minority areas

To promote the proactivity and self-reliance of ethnic minorities, it is necessary to overcome the negative consequences of the “request-give” mechanism. This mechanism emerged simultaneously with the dominate role of the State, with policy orientations, programs, projects, public resources, and so on.

Along with the process of renovating the management mechanism, the “request-give” mechanism is gradually being overcome in many areas. However, in the field of ethnic affairs, due to the significant role of the state, public resources are the main force, programs and projects creating socio-economic breakthroughs in ethnic minority areas are all State-funded or combined with prestigious international partners (such as UNDP of the United Nations). As a result, some thinking and implementation methods are still influenced by the old mechanism. This is unavoidable, causing negative consequences in many aspects, such as the dependence and passivity of some local governments or a segment of the ethnic minority population.

The struggle with the remnants of the old mechanism and perfecting the new management mechanism in the field of ethnic affairs today should be considered a shared mission among the agencies responsible for formulating and implementing ethnic policies, as well as the ethnic minorities themselves, who are both policy implementers and beneficiaries. The policy of “the people know, the people discuss, the people implement, the people monitor, and the people bebefit” needs to be concretized through a “joint participation” approach.

This is also a lesson learned from the state management of ethnic issues in other countries. The characteristic of this method is that ethnic minorities are involved and participate in all policy stages, from shaping ideas to formulating, implementing, supervising implementation, receiving feedback, and adjusting policies for the next phase. “Joint participation” is a manifestation of the democratization process of political - economic - social life.

5. Meeting the objective demands of the market mechanism and contributing to building a market economy mindset among ethnic minorities

The socialist-oriented market economy in our country today is “the overall model for socio-economic development”. Many ethnic minority areas and ethnic minority people have participated in this model at many different levels. Accordingly, to promote the proactivity and self-reliance of ethnic minorities in socio-economic development, it is necessary to pay due attention to the following issues related to the market mechanism:

Firstly, it is necessary to recognize the positive aspects of the market mechanism for the process of socio-economic restructuring in ethnic minority areas.

The market mechanism plays a role in stimulating the activities of economic subjects and creating favourable conditions for their free activities, thus making the economy develop dynamically and effectively. Currently, economic restructuring in agriculture in many ethnic minority areas in our country mostly starts from a low baseline, commonly characterized by small-scale commodity agriculture, and in some places, even subsistence farming or natural resource exploitation, etc. The flexible regulation of the market mechanism, which is highly adaptable to changing socio-economic conditions, aligning social production with social needs, will promote the development of commodity production. Therefore, to develop the economy of ethnic minority regions, it is necessary to appropriately apply the market mechanism.

The market mechanism that optimally distributes economic resources based on market principles with the highest efficiency will contribute to the effective exploitation and use of natural resources, people, and the environment in ethnic minority areas. Some difficulties and limitations of mountainous and remote areas can also be solved through market mechanisms.

The market mechanism stimulates technological innovation, rationalization of production, product innovation, production organization methods, and business management, thereby improving economic efficiency. Through this, the market will bring compatibility between the volume and structure of production with that of society’s needs, thereby being able to better meet the diverse needs of products and services. The backwardness in the economic structure and product structure of ethnic minority areas can also see positive and more diverse changes.

Although some negative aspects of the market economy have been exposed and need to be resolved, it must be affirmed that the emergence of the market mechanism has the ability to strongly promote the potential and strengths of the ethnic minority areas.

Secondly, the market is not a “magic wand” to solve all poverty and underdevelopment in ethnic minority areas, but all successful examples of economic development in ethnic minority regions in our country over the years are associated with some form of commodity production model.

It has long been believed that the lack of socio-economic infrastructure is the leading cause. However, the reality of development in ethnic minority areas shows that the lack of a market economic mindset is the core factor. The evidence is that in many ethnic minority areas, infrastructure has improved, but production methods and the people’s mindsets have not changed much, leading to poverty, underdevelopment, and so on.

Therefore, building a new mindset, overcoming the barriers of small production and outdated customs and practices, and aiming to build a market economic mindset, with the desire to rise out of poverty, needs to become a top priority in promoting the proactivity and will to rise of ethnic minorities.

New insights from summarizing our Party’s experience shows that: Inadequacies, limitations, or lack of success are all mainly due to “subjective reasons”. The participating subjects that constitute that subjective factor, including Party organizations, State management agencies, political systems, and ethnic minorities. Therefore, for sustainable socio-economic development in ethnic minority areas, overcoming recent limitations requires focusing on promoting the role of the entire Party, the entire people, the entire army, and the entire political system.

Policies for socio-economic development, national defense, and security in mountainous ethnic minority areas must be comprehensive, aiming at sustainable development and promoting the advantages and potential of the region and the spirit of self-reliance of the ethnic minorities who themselves must be the subjects to solve their own problems, with their own internal strength and in their own way, because development is always a process of self-motivation.

6. Conclusion

In the ethnic affairs of the Party and the State of Vietnam, the above four mechanisms have partly been realized in the policy-making process. However, during the specific implementation process, due to a number of objective and subjective reasons, these mechanisms are sometimes not applied properly, resulting in their effectiveness not being fully realized. In the coming time, it is necessary to continue promoting the implementation of these mechanisms so that ethnic minorities are truly the center, the subject, and at the same time the beneficiaries of the policy.

Received: January 22, 2024; Revised: May 18, 2024; Approved for publication: May 22, 2024.

Endnotes:

(1) CPV: Documents of the 13th National Party Congress, vol.I, National Political Publishing House, Hanoi, 2021, p.170.

(2) Legal database: Declaration of Human Rights, United Nations (UN).

(3) Hoang Phuong: Renovating the work of building and organizing the implementation of ethnic policies, Communist Party of Vietnam Online newspaper, November 22, 2022.

(4) Nguyen Lam Thanh: Promoting the role of social policy credit for ethnic minorities, Communist Review, October 2023.