The Polarization of Civil Society in Vietnam Post-COVID-19: Governmentactions and Responses from Civil Society Organizations

In the current global context, the shrinking of civic space is a challenge formany countries, including Vietnam. In this country, the space is undergoingnotable changes, especially the polarization within the civil societyorganizations (CSOs), that not only affects the ways the CSOs operate butalso has a profound impact on the country's governance and politicaldiscourse, especially after the COVID-19 pandemic. Taking CSOs as theunit of analysis, this paper analyzes the results from a quantitative surveyof 200 Vietnamese CSOs carried out in 2024. Research results find thatafter the COVID-19, the state-sponsored CSOs seem to have prevailedover independent CSOs in social governance activities and politicaldiscourse. On the one hand, the mass organisations have been further consolidated and strengthend in their political role. On the other hand, anew trend of digitization of civil space is reinforced among the remainingCSOs. Such polarization might lead to two potential prospects forVietnamese civil society in the future. First is the risk of politicization ofcivic life, with the state's intervention and direction in the activities of themass organisations. Second is the tendency of underground civic activity,making civil sector more difficult to grasp.