Late Development and the Private Sector: A Perspective on Public-Private Partnerships in Vietnam

CONNOR VIGNALI STEELBERG*

This Note examines a statute approved by Vietnam’s National Assembly in June 2020: the Law on Investment in the Form of Public-Private Partnerships. Analyzing the statute and two of its publicly available drafts, this Note argues that the new legislation is unlikely to achieve its goal of generating development through expanded, cost-effective infrastructure projects. Further, it argues that the new statute’s deficiencies flow from the inability of the current institutional approach.known as law and development.to learn from the failures of previous developmental reform efforts. Though establishing a legal framework for public-private partnerships may facilitate infrastructural expansion and serve a vital role in economic development, this comes at great cost. In the long term, the Vietnamese state may suffer diminished administrative and financial capacity as a result of the new statute.

* J.D. Candidate, Columbia Law School, 2021. I am indebted and grateful to Professor Benjamin Liebman, Derek Steelberg, and Daniel Thiel for their feedback and guidance throughout this process. Special thanks to: Tara Hofbauer, Eddie Kim, and Emilie Klovning for the discussions that helped shape my note and sustained my motivation; Ayana Lindsey and the Journal staffers for their diligent work in revisions; Cédric Le Quellec, Mark Oakley, Huyen Pham, and Marieke van der Pijl for introducing me to the Vietnamese legal regime; and my parents, my siblings, and Daniel Leng for their love and support.