Vietnamese security perceptions of the post cold-war world and their implications for Vietnam-US relations.

Abstract

This dissertation seeks to describe the mainstream of Vietnamese perspectives on the Post Cold War era and analyze their implications for the US-Vietnam normalization. In particular, the thesis addressed the following questions: How and to what extent do Vietnamese perspectives on security affect the development of the Vietnam-US normalization in the new millennium? My main argument is that while Vietnam is keen to normalize relations with the United States, it resists being dictated to and in the final analysis it desires to have control over the pace of reform. Derived from Vietnam's perception of security this thesis, to a certain extent, help explain the ups and downs of the process of Vietnam-US normalization.