Martin Gainsborough is a reader in development politics in the School of Sociology, Politics, and International Studies at the University of Bristol. His publications include Vietnam: Rethinking the State (2010) and Changing Political Economy of Vietnam: The Case of Ho Chi Minh City (2003).
Vietnam and its smaller neighbors Laos and Cambodia remain bastions of illiberalism and one-party rule despite rapid economic growth and falling poverty. What will it take to reform their elitist political cultures and curtail the use of public office for private ends?
Democracy in East Asia offers a comprehensive treatment of the political landscape in both Northeast and Southeast Asia, including discussions of China, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Indonesia, the Philippines, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, and Burma (Myanmar).
