SESSION 1 - MEANING AND BASIC CONCEPTS OF LAW

Definition of law:

● Law is a command set by a sovereign or superior being to an inferior being and

forced by sanctions (Sir John Austin, an English legal theorist of 18th-19th Cen)
● Law was an instrument used by the wealthy class to dominate and exploit the weaker
and laboring class (Kark Max, 19th Century)
● Law is a necessary tool to regulate and protect the collective interests of the society
(Professor Harts, a British legal philosopher of 20th Cen)
● Law is a body of rules or principles recognized and applied in the administration of
justice (*law – not only for the collective interests, but also individuals rights/human
rights as noted by Salmond, a legal scholar, public servant and judge in New Zealand
of 19th -20th Cen)
● Generally law can be described as a set of rules, developed over a long period of
time that regulates interactions that people have with each other, and which sets
standards of conduct between individuals and the government (authority of the
government) and which is enforceable through sanction.

Morality, ethics:

Morality/ethics give us the sense of judgement between right and wrong to certain
standards developed by society over time. It consists of values, principles, beliefs,
customs, ways of living.
● Different: Morality/ethics are not bindings, enforceable and have sanctions. They are
binding on the conscience of the members of the society.
● Relation:
- Uniformity: The law is based on morality and ethics; it incorporates a
significant proportion of morality and ethics.
- Contradiction: certain wrongs in society contravene morality/ethics but not the
law (disrespect, failure to provide for parents...); the existence of unjust laws
(enforcing slavery or legalizing abortions).

Diversity of rules:

● Political parties
● Social organizations
● Businesses
● Internal rules/regulations of an organization (private and public)
● Families
● Groups
● Social forums, networks

Roles and functions of law:

● Maintain social order and stability

● Promote justice, fairness, human rights and freedoms
 ● Resolve conflicts and disputes
● Promote desirable social and economic behavior
● Promote the development
● Present the will of the people and minorities
● Control and structure public power
● Express society’s moral values

→ LAW AS NOT ONLY TO PROVIDE SANCTIONS, TO MAINTAIN SOCIAL ORDER,

BUT ALSO TO PROMOTE THE DEVELOPMENT AND VALUES.

Classification of law:

Law has been classified in various ways. The four main divisions are as follow:
● Criminal law & Civil Law
● National Law & International Law
● Public Law & Private Law
● Substantive Law & Procedural Law

CRIMINAL LAW CIVIL LAW

- Offences against the state - It is concerned with the rights and duties of
- The criminal offender is prosecuted by the individuals towards each other.
Public Prosecutor. - Plaintiff/Claimant v Defendant
- Punishments: Fine, death sentence, - Remedy: Damages, injunction,
whipping, imprisonment. rectification, specific performance.
- Public Prosecutor v defendant

NATIONAL LAW INTERNATIONAL LAW

- Also known as domestic law Body of law which is composed for its
- It refers to the set of laws applied within a greater part of the principles and rules of
nation state. conduct which states feel themselves bound
- Set of laws applied within a nation state to observe, and consequently commonly do
- Different in each country observe, in their relation with each other.

PUBLIC LAW PRIVATE LAW

Law which governs the relationship It is concerned with matters that affect the
between individuals and the state. rights and duties of individuals amongst
themselves.

SUBSTANTIVE LAW PROCEDURAL LAW

- Deals with rights, duties, liberties, power. It relates to the enforcements of rights and
- It is the law that governs our daily duties (legal procedures)
practices and conduct.

SESSION 2 - SOURCES OF LAW

Definition:

Sources of law mean the sources from where law originates (the origin of law). In other
words, law is derived from sources. Jurists have different views on the origin and sources of
law, as they have regarding the definition of law.
● Austin: Sovereign as the source of law (the divine right of kings)
● Savigny and Henry Maine: Customs as the most important source of law
● Theologians: Religions as sources of law
● Natural law school: Nature and human reasons (justice, equality and liberty...)
as the source of law; law derived from nature rather than from the rules of
society. → Natural law vs Positive law (law made by the society or the state).
● Kark Max: Law originated from the wealthy class.
● People’s sovereignty: the will of the people as the most important source of law
(law made directly by the people or by their representatives (representative
body/parliament).

Classification of legal sources:

Primary and secondary sources of law:

● Primary: are actual binding law in the forms of constitutions, statutes (laws/codes),
administrative regulations, legal customs, judicial precedents, treaties…
● Secondary: optional source of law including juristic writings, foreign decisions,
religions, morality, ethics... This source is applied if there is no primary law, or as
additional ones. Legal custom and judicial precedents also.

Formal and material sources of law:

● Formal: is a source where the rule exists (constitutions, laws, legal customs, legal
precedents... even justice, equality, morality in natural law.
● Material: is a factor that helps the formation of the law (social relations, political
power relations, socio-economic situation, tradition or religious views, the research,
international development...).

3 main sources: legal custom; judicial precedent; and legislation. In the contemporary
legal systems, most are based on legislation. At the same time customs play a significant
role. In many legal systems, court decisions are binding as law.

Custom as a ● Custom can simply be explained as those long established

source of practices or unwritten rules which have acquired binding or
law obligatory character.
● Custom, to be valid (as a legal custom/custom law), must be long
established practices or unwritten rules and have acquired
bindings or obligatory character.
● In ancient societies, custom law was considered as one of the
most important sources of law (the real source of law)
● With the passage of time and advent of modern civilization, the
importance of custom as a source of law diminished and other
sources such as judicial precedents and legislation became more
important.

The general ● General recognition of custom as a source of law: the will of the
recognition people, not of the government (The will of the people has always
of custom been reflected in the custom and traditions of the society); stability;
voluntarily comply, no need for sanction...)
● In common law (as in the UK): legal customs play a very important
role in society. Ex: A constitutional custom (The monarchy has no
accountability; the monarch rules, but he/she holds little or no
actual power or direct influence).

Unwritten Unwritten legal customs may be incorporated in the law enacted by the
legal State.
customs Ex:
become ● Hindu Women’s Right To Property Act, 1937 (amended in 2005).
written law ● The Vietnamese Law on Marriage and Family, 2014: “Children
have the obligation and right to care for their parents, especially
when the parents lose their civil act capacity, are sick, old, or
disabled. In case the family has many children, the children must
take care of their parents together”.

Judicial ● Judicial precedent refers to previously decided judgments of

precedent as the superior courts, such as the High Courts and the Supreme
a source of Court, which judges are bound to follow.
law ● Judicial precedent is an important source of law, but it is neither
as modern as legislation nor is it as old as custom.
● It is an important feature of the English legal system as well as of
other common law countries which follow the English legal
system.

Importance ● Final settlement of an issue (outcome of justice)

of precedent ● Bring certainty (judicial procedures and principles)
as a source ● Bring flexibility to law (not only depend on legislations)
of law ● Contribute to the development of law (the court interprets the law)
● Help in guiding lower courts

Two views ● The courts interpret the law to solve the cases, and by this
and the exercise, they lay down new principles and rules, therefore, it is
general argued that the courts actually make law. While interpreting the
development law enacted by the legislative bodies, the courts contribute to the
existing body of law.
● The courts do not make law, which is enacted by the legislature
(parliament). The court simply interprets the existing law (interpret
what the law is). Judges are not law-givers, but they discover law.
● Judges do not make the law in the same manner in which
legislative bodies do. Judges work in a given legal rule passed as
law by the legislature. The law can not be amended by the courts,
however they can develop the law through their interpretations.

Legislation ● In modern times, legislation is considered as the most

as a source important source of law.
of law ● The term 'legislation' is derived from the Latin 2 words, “legis” and
“latum”. The former means law and the latter means to make.
● Legislation consists in the declaration of legal rules by a
 competent authority (often by the legislature, who may delegate its
power to the executive).
● Legislation forms: Acts, Codes, Statutes, Law

Constitution as the fundamental law of each State:

It is a set of basic rights and freedoms, as well as principles of government structure

(legislative, executive and judiciary). Basic policies sometimes also.

Ex: The American Constitution, 1787; The Vietnamese Constitution, 2013.

Primary Sources of Law in the United States:

1. Constitution
2. Federal and State Statutes
3. Administrative Regulations
4. Case Law

Treaties as an important source of law:

● The host country may be subject (or may be about to become subject) to laws made
by a regional or world grouping by becoming a signatory to a treaty.
● Examples are the laws of the European Union, trade treaties, rules of the WTO,
NATO and bilateral treaties.
● Treaties/international law are superior to national law (except Constitution). If there is
a conflict between international law and national law, international law prevails.
However, International law is under the Constitution.

Compliance mechanism

● As national law, International law is binding; however, to ensure compliance with

international law differ considerably from those applying in internal law.
● The national law relies primarily on enforcement by the authority of the state which
imposes obedience.
● Such superior authority does not exist in international relations; international law
rather relies on voluntary compliance. A member state and others can provide
sanctions, such as economic sanctions on a member state which violate international
law.
● Enforcing international law is challenging. Ex: Russian Invasion of Ukraine.

Sources of law in Vietnam:

● Written legal normative documents are primary sources of law. Custom is a limited
source of law in civil and trade cases while there is no written law. Legal precedent is
also only partially recognized.
● Legal normative documents include:
 - Constitution
- Treaties that Vietnam is a member state (indirect application)
- Laws enacted by the National Assembly
- Many other legal normative documents adopted by public agencies from the
central to the local (the President; the Government; the prime minister; the
ministries; local authorities...) to implement and clarify the law.
● Customs: only a source of civil and commercial law (not be applied in public law).
● Precedents: A similar form of precedent is the Supreme Court’s Summary of the
typical precedents as a guiding source of law for lower courts.

The list of the legal sources in Vietnam:

1. Constitution, 2013
2. Civil Code
3. Law on Access to Information, 2018
4. Decree 100/2019/ND-CP on administrative sanctions in the field of traffic and railways,
dated 30/12/2019.

Why are customs and precedents not fully recognized in Vietnam?

● Priority of written law in a civil law system

● Disadvantages of precedents: Judge-made law not based on the democratic
process; judges are not qualified and independent; complicated legal system based
on legal precedents...
● Disadvantages of customs: not based on the democratic process; unpopular;
unclear; conflicts...

SESSION 3 - RULE OF LAW

Concept:

● “The Rule of Law” - Pháp quyền

● The expression “Rule of Law” has been derived from the French phrase “la principle
de l’égalité”, i.e. a government based on the principles of law. It was expounded for
the first time by Sir Edward Coke, and was developed by Prof. A.V. Dicey in his book
“The Law of the Constitution” published in 1885.
● Vietnamese version: Nhà nước pháp quyền (Rule of law based Government) – a
government based on the principles of the rule of law. Art.2 Constitution of 2013.
● According to Edward Coke, “Rule of Law” means: Absence of arbitrary power on the
part of the Government; No man is punishable or can be made to suffer in body or
good except for a distinct breach of law established in the ordinary legal manner
before the ordinary courts of the land.
● As per Prof. A.V. Dicey: “The rule of law” means the absolute supremacy or
predominance of the regular law as opposed to the influence of arbitrary power and
excludes the existence of arbitrariness or even of wide discretionary authority on the
part of the government” (the Law of the Constitution).
Principles:

According to Prof. Dicey, rules of law contains 3 principles or it has 3 meanings as stated
below:

1. Supremacy of law: “no man is punishable or can lawfully be made to suffer in body or
goods except for a distinct breach of law established in the ordinary legal manner before the
ordinary courts of the land.
2. Equality before law: everyone is equal before law; “no man is above law”
3. Predominance of legal spirit: the general principles of the constitution are the result of
judicial decisions determining rights of private persons in particular cases brought before the
court.

● The Rule of Law, in its most basic form, is the principle that no one is above the law.
Law is supreme, above everything and everyone. Nobody is above law.
● It is the law and not the individual or group of individuals which rules or governs the
people. All actions must be according to law and not according to whom.
● Every person, whatever be rank and condition, is subject to the ordinary law of the
nation.
● The most important application of the Rule of Law is the principle that government
must be conducted within the framework of recognized rules which restrict
discretionary powers.
● The principle is intended to be a safeguard against arbitrary governance, whether by
a totalitarian leader or by mod rule.
● Thus, the Rule of Law is hostile both to dictatorship and to anarchy.
● Discretionary powers should be exercised within reasonable limits set by law.

Violation of the rule of law:

2 basic principles:

● Absence of arbitrary power on the part of the local authority >< the police violently
forced the citizen to Test for Covid-19 without reasonable legal bases. This act
presented the will of the local authorities, not the law.
● No man is punishable or can be made to suffer in body or good except for a distinct
breach of law established in the ordinary legal manner before the ordinary courts of
the land >< the local authorities’ violation of basic human rights (right to be protected
against violence or any treatment harming his or her body and health; right to the
inviolability of his or her domicile...)
● The question of the rule of law in a state of emergency. In emergencies, human
rights may be limited or derogated by special governmental measures. However, the
problems arise that:
- It was not in a state of emergency
- Even in an emergency, discretionary powers should be exercised within
reasonable limits set by law.

Key to the rule of law, the judges say, is a commitment to applying the law to everyone fairly.
Other attributes include applying the law to the government, not just individuals and entities;
Making the law clear and legal proceedings transparent; Balancing individual rights against
the safety of others. “Your right to swing your fist stops just short of my nose,” Judges
Benton said. “And that’s what the rule of law is meant to do, is to find that boundary.”

Pre-conditions for the Rule of Law

● Certain minimum standards for law conforming to social standards.

● Absence of retroactive penal law.
● Fair and Just Procedure.
● Speedy Trial in Criminal Cases.
● Equal access to Law.
● Legal Aid to the Poor.
● Sound legal profession.
● Independent & impartial judiciary
● Authority of the courts to test authorities’ actions, by the standards of legality

The World Justice Project Rule of Law Index:

● The World Justice Project (WJP) is an international civil society organization with the
stated mission of "working to advance the rule of law around the world".
● The WJP works through three programs — Research and Scholarship, the WJP Rule
of Law Index, and Engagement. WJP seeks to increase public awareness about the
foundational importance of the rule of law, stimulate government reforms, and
develop practical programs at the community level.
● The WJP Rule of Law Index is the world’s leading source for original, independent
data on the rule of law.
● Now covering 139 countries and jurisdictions, the Index relies on national surveys of
more than 138,000 households and 4,200 legal practitioners and experts to measure
how the rule of law is experienced and perceived around the world.

Goals of the WJP Index:

● To measure adherence to the rule of law, not in theory but in practice.

● To identify strengths and weaknesses of each country as compared with its peers.
● To encourage efforts to strengthen the rule of law.

The four Universal Principles of the Rule of Law (defined by WJP):

1. Accountability: The government as well as private actors are accountable under the law.
2. Just Laws: The laws are clear, publicized, and stable; are applied evenly; and protect
fundamental rights, including the security of persons and contract, property, and human
rights.
3. Open Government: The processes by which the laws are enacted, administered, and
enforced are accessible, fair, and efficient.
4. Accessible and Impartial Dispute Resolution: Justice is delivered timely by competent,
ethical, and independent representatives and neutrals who are accessible, have adequate
resources, and reflect the makeup of the communities they serve.
The Eight Factors for the Rule of Law Index:

1. Constraints on Government Powers

2. Absence of Corruption
3. Open Government
4. Fundamental Rights
5. Order and Security
6. Regulatory Enforcement
7. Civil Justice
8. Criminal Justice

Conclusion: The rule of law plays an extremely important role in society. Effective rule of
law reduces corruption, combats poverty and disease, and protects people from injustices
large and small. It underpins development, accountable government, and respect for
fundamental rights, and it is the foundation for communities of justice, opportunity, and
peace.

SESSION 4 - RULE OF LAW

Definition of legal system:

● The set of laws of a country and the ways in which they are interpreted and enforced
(Collins English Dictionary).
● The legal system includes rules, procedures, and institutions by which public and
private activities can be carried out through legitimate means.
● It can also be defined as a body of rules including the principles, rules or doctrines
associated with them that have the force of law in a given society.

What makes a legal system?

1. Sources of law and their hierarchy

2. Law-making institutions (and their hierarchy)
3. Law-enforcing institutions and their powers (mostly courts)
4. Legal principles and concepts
5. The organisation of the legal profession (the judiciary, the prosecutors, the lawyers)

National legal systems:

● Each state has its own legal system.

● The structure and characteristics of these systems are highly variable.
● Many legal systems are organized on the basis of a written constitution (e.g. the
United States), a few have constitutional systems not resulting from a single written
text (e.g. the UK); a few do not have an explicit constitutional framework (e.g.
Afghanistan)
● The relative position of sources of laws varies greatly from one country to another.

Major groups of legal systems

 ● It is possible to classify national legal systems into several groups, based on the
existence of common characteristics.
● Basic elements for distinguishing legal systems: sources of law; legal principles and
concepts; and tradition.
● Major groups of Legal systems: civil law; common law; religious law (Islamic law);
customary law; common law and civil law; others.
● Other expressions: legal traditions; legal families.

Basic elements for distinguishing legal systems

1. Sources of law – what constitutes law in each legal system (statutes, customs,
judicial decisions, generally accepted legal principles, the opinions of jurists...)

● Under Sources of law we explained that some countries will apply greater weight to
certain sources of law than others, and that some will put more emphasis on judicial
decisions than others.
● Civil law systems place more emphasis on statutory law (legislation)
● Common law systems give a broader role to case law, which is considered to be the
source of many of its rules, and has developed complex technical instruments to
apply, interpret and modify such case law.

2. The legal concepts and terminology used by each system

This not a matter of language, but rather of ideas

● Concepts such as equity, or consideration, have a technical sense under common
law which has no exact equivalent in other legal systems.
● Equity provides remedies in situations in which precedent or statutory law might not
apply or not be equitable.
● Consideration, in contract law, an inducement given to enter into a contract that is
sufficient to render the promise enforceable in the courts.
● On the other hand, many concepts used in civil law systems, but are not-existent or
irrelevant in other systems.

3. The legal tradition – the historical development of each national law

● Historical, civil law systems have been based on Roman law and on the codes
enacted in continental Europe;
● Common law systems are based on English common law;
● Legal systems from the Muslim tradition are based on Islamic law, etc.

Common law systems

Common law (also known as judicial precedent or judge-made law, or case law) is a body of
unwritten laws based on legal precedents established by the courts. Countries following a
common law system are typically those that were former British colonies or protectorates,
including the United States, India, Canada, Australia.
Features of a common law system include:
(a) authority of the judgments delivered by higher courts and tribunals: the judicial
precedents are binding – case law;
(b) composition of judicial institutions:
● The judges are highly skilled persons who have specially studied the discipline of law
and possess practical experience in legal administration either as advocates or
judges.
● A judge, in other words, cannot be a lay person or even a scientist. He must be a
person of legal background, either as an advocate or a judge or at least with a
degree in law;
● Legal education: a bachelor degree requirement for law student; legal
experiences/practices as a compulsory requirement to become a legal practitioner
(advocates/judges...);
(c) adversarial system of court proceedings, and the role of judge:
● The disputing parties engage advocates who act like adversaries in the court of law
and each advocate fights tooth and nail against the other in order to win the case.
● The judge in the court acts like a neutral observer listens patiently to the advocates of
each party.
(d) the importance of Acts, Statutes, and other legislations passed by competent authorities:
● Though the legislations passed by competent authorities such as the
Parliament/legislatures are given an authoritative place which is binding on the
judges, whenever the judges find any gaps in the Act or Statutes passed by the
Parliament, they can make suitable interpretations to fill the gap in these acts.
● In other words, the judges and advocates of the Common Law system would think
that the Acts are very abstract and the rules contained in those Acts are very general
in nature.
● Facts of every case would be so peculiar that it would be very difficult to apply the
general and abstract form of rule which may need suitable additions and
interpretations.

Civil law systems

● The expression "civil law" is a translation of Latin jus civile, or "citizens' law", as
opposed to the laws governing conquered peoples (Jus gentium).
● The origin of ‘Continental Legal System’ can be traced to the old age Roman Empire
of the 5th century A.D.
● Civil law is sometimes referred to as neo-Roman law, Romano-Germanic law or most
commonly referred to as Continental law. This legal system spread all over Europe.
In the rest of the world, this legal system was imposed during the era of colonialism
during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Now you may find this legal system
present in many countries of Southern America and parts of Africa.

Common features of a civil law system include:

(a) importance of Acts, Statutes passed by the Parliament or competent authorities:

● The Acts passed by the Parliament or the competent authorities receive the highest
importance in this legal system.
● Judges regard the rules framed by the Parliament as supreme and do not try to
change it by asserting their own authority as in the Common Law
 ● The judges may give their own interpretations of the vague language used in the Act,
but they would say that it would be not binding except upon the parties to the dispute;
(b) composition of judiciary:
● Persons who have specialized knowledge of any particular field may be appointed as
judges. Thus, an engineer or a doctor or a scientist may become a judge. There is no
requirement to study law as a separate discipline for a requisite number of years and
practice in the court of law thereafter.
● More countries require a law degree to become a judge, but legal practical
experience is not compulsory.
● Legal education: entering law school from high schools; specified academies for
lawyers; judges;
(c) power of the judges to make law: The judicial judgements are not binding, but they are
given respect by the judges in other cases;
(d) inquisitorial approach of the court proceedings:
● The judges in the ‘Continental Legal System’ play active roles in finding the truth.
● The judges do not simply act as a referee between the prosecutor and the defense
but they actively investigate the matter themselves with the cooperation of all
disputing parties and try to establish the truth by collection of evidence.
● Collection of evidence is thus not the sole responsibility of the advocates but the
judges too.

Civil law v. Common law tradition

CIVIL COMMON

MAIN SOURCE OF LAW Legislation (codified law) Case law (precedents)

LAW-MAKING BODIES Legislative bodies The judiciary

CREATION OF LEGAL From general and abstract; From specific and individual;
PRINCIPLES deductive reasoning: inductive reasoning: legal
applying a general principle principles derived from
to a particular case individual cases

ROLE OF THE JUDICIARY Interprets and applies the Creates the law
law (precedents)

TYPE OF LEGAL Inquisitorial Adversarial

PROCEDURE

New trends

● Each system has its advantages and disadvantages, therefore the trend is that every
system interacts one to another; there is no pure common law nor pure civil law.
● The increasing contemporary influence of international agreements (international
law).
● Therefore, the division of national legal systems into families or cultural groupings are
weakened.

Some other legal systems

Islamic law:

● Islamic law is based largely on the teachings of the Koran (literally: 'the Reading').
● The totality of Islamic law is known as the Shari'a, which means 'the way or path to
follow'.
● The unique ground for the validity of Islamic law is that it is the manifested will of the
Almighty: it does not depend on the authority of any earthly law-giver.
● One of the consequences is that Islamic law is immutable, for it is the law revealed
by God.
● Thus, society must adapt itself to the law rather than generate laws of its own as a
response to changing circumstances.
● Since Islamic law reflects the will of Allah rather than the will of a human lawmaker, it
covers all areas of life and not simply those which are of interest to the state or
society.

Socialist law:

● Great influence of Civil law tradition

● Legal concept: law as an instrument used by the wealthy class to dominate and
exploit the weaker and laboring class (Kark Max).
● Law and society under the will of the communist party (rule by law vs rule of law).
● Importance of public law (to protect order and security).

Vietnam’s legal system

History: Influence of Chinese Confucian law (1000 years); French law (civil law) in the
colonization period and the socialist law (since 1945, in particular from 1950s).
A socialist legal system based on the civil law, with some major modifications from Marxist-
Leninist ideology; and is in the transition with many legal adaptations to international law and
other legal systems.
The main features:
● Legislation is the most important source of law;
● Courts must make decisions based on legislation;
● Policies are set out by the Communist Party, the only political party in Vietnam, which
can lead to changes in legislation in the future.

SESSION 4 - FORMS OF GOVERNMENT

What is a government?

● A government is an institution or a system made of a group of people governing an

organized community, generally a state.
● Once appointed or formed, the government is responsible for the social welfare, law
and order, defence, and financial affairs of the state.
● Government normally consists of the legislature, executive, and judiciary.
● The government’s powers are enforceable.
What is ‘form of government’?

“Form of government” (hình thức nhà nước) refers to the set of political institutions by which
a government of a state is organized (synonyms include system, type of government).
Two interplaying elements/criteria for distinguishing/classifying different forms of
government:
● Power source refers to the question of the power to whom/who rules?
● Power structure refers to how the power is organized?

Forms of government - Các hình thức cấu trúc nhà nước:

● Federal government >< unitary government
● Federalism: federal government and state governments
● Local governments
Basic forms of government:
● Democracy (Dân chủ)
● Republic (Cộng hòa)
● Monarchy (Quân chủ)
● Dictatorship (Độc tài)
● Transitional (Chuyển đổi)
● Theocracy (Thần quyền)
● Oligarchy (Đầu sỏ hay thiểu số)

Democracy

● Democracy – a form of government in which leaders are elected by the people,

therefore the power is with the people.
● Power is given to the people and exercised by them directly or indirectly through a
system of representation (so called: a representative government or a republic)
● Democratic governments are based on free elections where all citizens have a vote
and are able to be a candidate.
● There are different forms of democracy (direct and indirect democracy; participatory
democracy; deliberative democracy).
● Most contemporary governments are democratic to some extent.
Republic

● A form of government in which the leaders are elected or chosen for a specific length
of time (term of office). Especially “the State President”
● A republic means to be a democratic one, but not identical to democracy: In some
undemocratic republics, the leaders are chosen by a small number of people and
may stay in office for a long time, sometimes without ever being elected, or re-
elected (North Korea, China...).
● In some cases, there may be elections, but these may be conducted in corrupt ways,
or elections are not given a free choice of who to vote for.
● Contemporary democratic republican forms of government: The presidential;
parliamentary and semi-presidential and socialist republics.

Presidential republic:

● A form of government in which the head of State (president) is elected directly by the
people; he/she leads an executive branch that is separate from the legislative branch
in the system that uses separation of power.
● First established in the United States (the Constitution of 1787) based on the
separation of powers (checks and balances).
● Most popular in Latin America; Eastern Europe; some Asian countries such as
Indonesia, South Korea; Philippines.

The parliamentary republic:

● A form of government in which the executive (a prime minister and its government)
derives their power from the parliament, so they are elected by the parliament and
accountable before the parliament).
● Rooted in the parliamentary system in the UK (the accountability of the executive
before the legislature).
● Examples: Germany, Italy

Semi-presidential republic:

● Semi-presidential or a mixed system; or dual executive system: a form of government

in which a president exists alongside a prime minister and a cabinet.
● The president is directly elected by the people; he/she is the leader of the executive;
a prime minister and his cabinet are chosen by the parliament; are responsible
before the president and the parliament.
● First established in France (the fifth Republic of 1958). Others: Belarus, Croatia,
Poland, Romania, Russia and Ukraine.
● *Russia is distinct (super presidential system).

Socialist Republic (Classical):

● No separation of power, but democratic centralization. All power are vested in the
people
 ● The national assembly is the highest organ of the state; others powers, including the
executive and judiciary powers derive their powers from the national assembly.
● The role of the sole leading party – the communist party.
● Former Soviet Union, China, North Korea, Vietnam.
● *Most of Socialist Republics have reformed their systems.

Monarchy

● A form of government led by an individual who holds the position for life, having
inherited the position, and who passes it on to a relative, usually a son or daughter.
● Monarchy is the longest lasting form of government; popular in the states of pre-
capitalism.
● Forms of monarchy: Absolute monarchy v. constitutional monarchy
● Absolute monarchy: the monarch has absolute power (or great power) and make all
decisions and laws of the country.

Constitutional monarchy:

● The powers of the monarch are restricted to those granted in the constitution.
● Most constitutional monarchies use a parliamentary system in which the king or
queen may have strictly ceremonial duties. They often have an elected prime
minister who is the head of government.
● Constitutional monarchies are democratic governments.
● Constitutional monarchy is rooted in the UK (since the 13th century)
● Constitutional monarchies are common today. E.g. the UK, Australia, Japan,
Thailand, Malaysia...

Dictatorship

● A government in which a single leader or party exercises absolute control over the
government and society.
● The leader or party is not elected and may use force to keep control. In most cases,
its absolute power is exercised in a cruel way
● Other names for a dictatorship include: autocracy, military junta, authoritarianism,
totalitarianism or fascism.
● Examples of dictatorship today: North Korea; Libya; Myanmar; Sudan; Afghanistan

Transitional

● A transitional government is one that is in the process of changing from one form to
another.
● Countries with transitional governments are often unstable. Examples: The
communism – the capitalism (East Europe); or to the socialism (Vietnam, China);
Iraq, Afghanistan

Some other forms

● Theocracy – a government rules by a religious leader

 ● Oligarchy – a government in which a few people such as a clan or clique have power
>< Democracy; or Republic

Form of Vietnamese Government

Form of a socialist republic with reforms.

Traditional features:
● The role of the sole leading party – the communist party. High level of centralization
● All power are vested in the people; direct and indirect democracy; participatory and
deliberative democracy
● The national assembly is the highest organ of the state; others powers, including the
executive and judiciary powers derive their powers from the national assembly.
Reforms:
● The rule of law based state
● Distribution, co-ordination and control among state agencies in exercising legislative,
executive and judiciary powers
● Accountability; Openness and Transparency.