Throughout the process of leading the revolution, our Party has consistently identified the renewal of its leadership and governance methods as a central task in Party building. This orientation continues to be fully reflected in the Draft Documents submitted to the 14th National Congress of the Party, with fundamental and concise directions.

After nearly 40 years of renovation, the Party’s understanding of leadership methods under conditions of governance has made significant progress; the Party’s leadership and governance methods have undergone many innovations and achieved important results.

In particular, linking the renewal of leadership methods with Party building and rectification has made an important contribution to enhancing the Party’s governing capacity, ensuring its comprehensive and effective leadership over the political system’s activities in various fields: socio-economic development, ensuring defense, security, foreign affairs, promoting the cause of renewal, building and protecting the Fatherland, and strengthening the people’s trust in the Party. From that foundation, our Party affirms that: “...strengthening and renewing the Party’s leadership and governance methods is a decisive factor”.

However, there remain several issues to be addressed, especially the excessive issuance of documents, some of which are still general, overlapping, or delayed in supplementation, amendment, or replacement, thus reducing the effectiveness of the Party’s leadership in certain areas. “The implementation of resolutions remains a weak stage”; several major Party orientations and policies have yet to be institutionalised promptly and fully, or have been institutionalised but are not feasible. The organisational model of the Party and the political system still has shortcomings; the renewal of working styles and methods within the Party has not yet met the requirements of the new situation,... To ensure that the Party fulfills its historical mission, the Draft Documents for the 14th National Congress of the Party identify the policy: “Continue to strongly renovate the Party’s leadership and governance methods in the new context”. This is a consistent policy, stemming from the practical requirements of the current situation, and requires the effective implementation of several key priorities:

1. Institutionalising, specifying, and effectively implementing the relationship of “Party leadership - State management - People’s mastery”

This is a top priority in the renewal of the Party’s leadership and governance methods. Thus, along with continuing to inherit the fundamental contents defined by the 13th National Congress: continue to improve, concretise and well implement the mechanism of “Party leadership, State management, People mastery”; at the same time, continue to firmly grasp and handle major relationships, including the relationship “between Party leadership, State management and People mastery”, in the Draft Documents submitted to the 14th National Congress, our Party also emphasise the need to “institutionalise that relationship”.

An illustrative photo

Accordingly, for the Party as the nucleus of leadership within the political system, fulfilling its leadership and governing role requires the Party to formulate political platforms, guidelines, policies, and decisions for the nation’s development; to lead the entire Party, people, and armed forces in strictly and effectively implementing those political platforms, guidelines, policies, and decisions. Leading the organisation and operation of the political system; promoting the pioneering, exemplary, and active role of Party cadres and members, while ensuring strict inspection and supervision over all political organisations. At the same time, the Party must constantly engage in self-renewal and self-rectification, proactively preventing the risks of degradation and degeneration arising from internal “self-evolution” and “self-transformation”, as well as from the sabotage of external hostile and reactionary forces. This reaffirms that it is the Communist Party of Vietnam, rather than any other organisation, that plays the decisive role in ensuring the effective operation of the mechanism: Party leadership, State management, People’s mastery.

Regarding the State, when referring to the “governing role” of any political party, it first and foremost concerns that party’s leadership over the state. In any society in general and in a rule-of-law state in particular, the state stands at the centre of power, representing both the will of the ruling class and the power of the majority of the people. In Vietnam, a strong socialist rule-of-law state is the embodiment of a strong Party’s leadership and governing capacity and vice versa. Within the relationship in which the Party leads and governs, it is the State, and only the State, that has the function and mission to institutionalise the Party’s guidelines, orientations, and policies.

Especially when the nation enters a new era of development, in order to join the Party in fulfilling its function of creating for national development, the State, under its constitutionally defined functions, is required to shift more clearly toward a management- and service-oriented function. Hence, as the law serves as the power regulating all social relations, it embodies the spirit and content of the Party’s guidelines, orientations, and policies. This inevitably shows that, to enhance the Party’s leadership and governing capacity, it is essential to continue renewing and improving the Party’s leadership and governance over the process of building and perfecting the socialist rule-of-law state of Vietnam. Within this process, the mechanism of “Party leadership, State management, People mastery” must be concretised to ensure that each component performs its “proper role” and authority, so that the Party neither assumes nor overlaps the functions of the State, and conversely, does not delegate without supervision or relax its leadership responsibility.

Regarding the People, the Communist Party was established, exists, and develops not for its own sake, but because “the people are the masters” and “the people exercise mastery”. The Party serves as the faithful representative of the interests of the working class, the working people, and the entire nation. The 13th National Congress of the Party affirmed: “The people are the centre and the subject of the cause of renewal, construction and protection of the Fatherland; all guidelines and policies must genuinely stem from the requirements, aspirations, and legitimate interests of the people; it is essential to strengthen the close relationship with the people, rely on the people to build the Party; take the happiness and prosperity of the people as the ultimate goal; and consolidate and enhance the people’s trust in the Party, the State, and the socialist regime”.

An important content of the Party’s leadership and governance is to further strengthen its leadership over the Vietnam Fatherland Front, socio-political organisations, and mass associations so that these entities can more effectively perform their roles in supervision and constructive social criticism toward the Party. The Party, in turn, exercises its leadership and governing functions through comparison, evaluation, and the selective absorption of feedback and recommendations from these organisations. This process enables the Party to amend, supplement, and perfect its political platforms, guidelines, orientations, and policies, thereby renewing its leadership methods over the political system and society in response to the requirements of the new situation.

2. Improving the institutional framework and implementing the principle: the Party unifies leadership, builds the apparatus, personnel works, and staffing across the entire political system; promoting decentralisation and clearly defining the authority and responsibility of party committees, party organisations, and their leaders

As the country enters a new era, it will create breakthrough development to achieve rapid and sustainable progress, requiring the speed of the apparatus organisation to be fast, the pace must be urgent, but must ensure that it is elite, compact, strong, effective, and efficient. To improve the institutional framework, the Party must take the responsibility for leading the construction of organisational structures, conducting personnel works, and determining staffing throughout the entire political system. This is truly a revolution, a command of life; requiring proactive and determined implementation with the highest political will, while simultaneously intensifying the fight against negative practices and group interests.

An illustrative photo

Upholding the principle that the Party exercises unified leadership over personnel works not only within the Party itself but also across the entire political system, the Draft Documents submitted to the 14th National Congress state: “Improve the institutional framework and implement the principle that the Party unifies leadership, builds the apparatus, personnel works, and staffing across the entire political system; promoting decentralisation and clearly defining the authority and responsibility of party committees, party organisations, and their leaders”. With the position and role of leadership and authority, being the nucleus and leading force of the entire political system, the Party’s leadership over personnel works is the highest requirement for “the Party’s leadership and governance”. To fulfill this requirement, the Party must formulate guidelines, policies, standards, regulations, and rules on personnel work, and lead, direct, and organise the implementation through party committees, party organisations, and party members in agencies and organisations of the political system, state economic organisations, public service units, etc. In this process, it is necessary to promote decentralisation and clearly define the authority and responsibility of party committees, party organisations, and their leaders; strictly observe the principles of democratic centralism, collective leadership, and individual accountability. Fully promote the responsibility of each individual, especially the head of the party committee, organisation, or agency in conducting personnel work in general and cadre management in particular, especially in proposing and organising the implementation of collective decisions on cadres and cadre work within the scope and responsibility assigned to them. In implementation, all levels and sectors need to fully understand that when the Party makes decisions, this does not mean the Party “oversteps” or replaces the roles of other organisations within the political system; rather, it ensures the proper functioning of the mechanism “Party leadership, State management, People mastery”. On the other hand, strengthening decentralisation and delegation of authority does not imply loosening the leadership and management of the Party and State, but rather enhances the responsibility of leaders in implementing organisational, structural, and staffing reforms.

3. Promoting administrative reform within the Party; renewing leadership style, working methods, and working practices of the Party’s leading and advisory agencies from the central to the grassroots level; focusing on amending, supplementing, and perfecting the working regulations of party committees and party organisations at all levels.

In recent years, the thorough dissemination and implementation of the Party’s guidelines and policies, the State’s policies and laws has been promoted, achieving significant progress in administrative reform, but these achievements have been confined mainly within the scope of State activities. The leadership and direction in implementing the Party’s guidelines, policies and decisions remain a weak link, with persisting issues such as talking more than doing, speaking well but performing poorly, or even speaking without taking action. After Party resolutions and directives are issued, the dissemination, study, and implementation by party committees and organisations are often slow, especially at the grassroots level. In some places, there is still a misconception that once a resolution is issued and disseminated, the task is complete, without realising that such a mindset prevents Party resolutions from being effectively translated into real life. There are many Party organisations that tend to copy the action programmes of higher-level committees when implementing resolutions, lacking creativity, practical relevance, and adaptation to their own local, sectoral, or organisational conditions; some places even do not strictly follow it. Therefore, the need to accelerate administrative reform within the Party is emphasised more clearly in the Draft Documents submitted to the 14th Party National Congress. Among these, administrative procedure reform is identified as the most crucial step, removing bottlenecks and creating favourable conditions for the Party to enhance its leadership and governance capacity, thereby unlocking all potential resources for comprehensive national development, particularly in the era of digital transformation and artificial intelligence. To avoid stagnation, all levels and sectors must overcome themselves and resolutely renew their leadership style, working methods, and practices within Party leadership and advisory agencies from the central to grassroots levels. Focus on improving the issuance of Party resolutions, directives, and decisions; strengthening theoretical research and practical reviews; exploiting and scientifically processing information from various sources to grasp the overall situation. At the same time, persistently innovate the process of preparing Party resolutions and directives, as well as the research, implementation and organisation methods at all levels in a direction that is concise, clear, and close to the functions and tasks of each sector and level so that they can be implemented immediately, reducing delays and the need for excessive guidance and concretisation at all levels. This very spirit is exemplified in the Draft Documents submitted to the 14th Party National Congress, which have been integrated, shortened, and more concise.

One of the reasons behind the situation of “overstepping, acting on behalf of, or loosening the leadership role of party committees and organisations” in recent years is the absence of leadership regulations and working procedures, or where they exist, they remain unscientific and ineffective. Therefore, it is essential to focus on amending, supplementing, and perfecting the working regulations of Party committees and organisations at all levels. These regulations must clearly define duties, powers, relationships, and working procedures in a democratic, transparent, clear, and specific manner across all aspects of the Party’s functions, tasks, and organisational structure, as well as within other organisations of the political system at every level; overcome the situation of overstepping, acting on behalf of, or loosening the leadership role of party committees and organisations. At the same time, regularly inspect and supervise the implementation of these regulations and rules in order to make timely adjustments, supplements, and improvements in response to the evolving demands of practical development.

The Party’s leadership and governance methods are among the most crucial factors that create sufficient conditions to ensure the Party fulfills its historic mission of leading the Vietnamese revolution in the new era, an era of national development, prosperity, and strength. To realise the policy of continuing to innovate the Party’s leadership and governance methods in the new conditions, it requires party committees and party organisations at all levels from the central to local levels, and each cadre and Party member to have high political determination, thoroughly grasp and effectively implement the orientations identified in the Draft Documents submitted to the 14th National Congress of the Party.

Prof., Dr. MACH QUANG THANG