Making Sense of the Socialist Market Economy
In this concluding chapter, the editors draw on the diverse perspectives and aspects presented in the preceding chapters to assess the development model of the socialist market economy, and attempts to frame the socialist market economy model within a lar
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Making Sense of the Socialist Market Economy Jo Inge Bekkevold, Arve Hansen, and Kristen Nordhaug
This final chapter sets out to revisit the core themes of the book through engaging with the arguments made in the chapters, and attempts to frame the socialist market economy model within a larger international context. The main purpose of the authors of this book is to further our understanding of what the socialist market economy construct is, in theory and practice. Comparing the models of China, Vietnam and Laos in one volume, we are better positioned to see the main characteristics of the socialist market economy as a whole, and the similarities between the three countries, but we have also exposed the differences between them. Following the main overall themes of the book, the chapter looks at the
J. I. Bekkevold (B) Centre for Development and the Environment, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway e-mail: [email protected] A. Hansen Norwegian Institute for Defence Studies, Oslo, Norway e-mail: [email protected] K. Nordhaug Oslo Metropolitan University, Oslo, Norway e-mail: [email protected] © The Author(s) 2020 A. Hansen et al. (eds.), The Socialist Market Economy in Asia, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-6248-8_12
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social market economy through discussions of ideology, the state and market relationship, environmental sustainability and state and society. We then take a closer look at the main similarities and differences of the model in China, Vietnam and Laos, as well as some main trends in the relationship between the three neighbouring countries. Finally, at the end of the chapter, we identify some themes for further research, with special attention given to the developmental state agenda, political developments and the impact of ongoing changes in international politics.
On Ideology Examining the model of ‘socialist market economy’, a core theme is naturally the relationship between socialism and market, or socialism and capitalism. The contributors to this book agree that the market has gained increased prominence in all three countries, China, Vietnam and Laos. The private sector today accounts for a relatively large part of the output in their economies, many state-owned enterprises are or are being privatized (or ‘equitized’) and the authorities have opened up for private solutions within health and education, sectors that traditionally are the responsibility of the state, also in a number of Western market economies. The growing influence of market solutions in China, Vietnam and Laos over the last 2–3 decades is part of a larger international trend. The most notable international example of the neoliberal influence on earlier socialist left-oriented parties is the British ‘New Labour’ party and the early discourse about the ‘Third Way’. The principal objective of the ‘Third Way’ was to temper free-market capitalism with social justice, while attempting to avoid an ‘excessive domination of the state over social and economic life’ (Giddens 2000: 13). There
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