The Historical Basis And The Process Of National Integration Of Vietnamese Nation - State Construction

Nation state is an organic combination of nation and state. Nation, in the form of cultural groups, first exists in the course of national historical development whereas state, as an administration, commands every ethnic group to obey it and to be governed and organized by it. First of all, nation state construction owns a dual nature of nation construction and state construction. From a historical perspective, namely, nation, as a cultural community, has its own characteristics in forging itself-the cultural community will integrate through cultural blending, or segregate because of geographical separation. As a legitimate administration, state will require every ethnic group to establish the same political identity and strengthen the stability of the political community within its ruling area in accordance with its extension of borderline. National integration, that is, through ethnic polices and measures made by the state, ethnic groups of different cultural background are able to deal with the relationship between state and nation and between ethnic groups themselves, and finally reach the unity of state identity and national identity, which helps to achieve its stability.From a historical perspective, the paper will depict the formation of the ethnic Vietnamese and the transformation of Cham people and Chinese in Vietnam. It will also explain the historical basis of its multinational pattern by taking examples of the ethnic Miao, the ethnic Yao and the ethnic Hua. The paper will explore how the independent and not-yet united Vietnam has groped for an effective national integration policy from the awakening of national consciousness in the French colonial age to the sense of belonging to the two different regimes under different social integration policies made respectively by North Vietnam and South Vietnam. Finally, it will present how Vietnam has adapted and improved its ethnic policies since1986after the unification of north and south Vietnam, so as to contribute to its national integration and nation state construction.