International Team Project: Vietnam - Research Checklist

This is a selective list of resources prepared for students participating in the International Team Project: Vietnam course at Northwestern University School of Law in the spring 2011 semester, by Irene Berkey, Foreign and International Law Librarian.

For questions about this guide, contact Heidi Kuehl, Foreign, Comparative, and International Law Librarian and Coordinator of Educational Programming and Outreach (e-mail | (312) 503-4725)

This list provides detailed information on resources for the law and legal system. For other areas of country research, links are provided to the relevant section of the law library's web site. Most materials cited are in English. Note that the English language versions of foreign language websites do not always have the same content as the vernacular version.

Country Information

General Resources by Country or Region The resources listed in this section, both print and online, together provide a great deal of information on the history, geography, government, economy, etc., of the countries of the world. See "Resources for more than one country or region." Also, under the heading "Resources by Country or Region," see the sub-topic "Asia."

Selected Web Sites For Vietnam

Asian Studies Web Sites and Databases

International Database of Viet Nam Scholars Vietnam Studies Group, University of Washington.

Laws and Legal System

Introductions, Research Guides, and Selected Internet Resources:

Vietnam Legal Research, by Anh Luu (GlobaLex, 2010). The author is a Vietnamese lawyer and a former LLM student at New York University. An introduction to the country and its legal system (rather than to specific laws).
Foreign Law Guide: Current Sources of Codes and Basic Legislation in Jurisdictions of the World , by Thomas H. Reynolds and Arturo A. Flores ("Reynolds and Flores"). The single most important bibliographic resource for foreign law research. Includes introductory materials (in-depth discussion of the legal history and legal publication), major publications, and citations to official sources for laws on specific subjects. It also cites to unofficial sources for detailed discussion and/or English language translations.
Legal Systems of the World: A Political, Social, and Cultural Encyclopedia, ed. by Herbert M. Kritzer (ABC-CLIO, 2002). Short articles on each country (or non-jurisdictional legal system) place the legal system in context. Vietnam chapter is in volume 4, pages 1753-1759.
I,REF K 48 .L44 2002 vols. 1-4
"Vietnamese Law: A Guide to Sources and Commentary," by Penelope (Pip) Nicholson and Quan Hien Nguyen, 2 Journal of Comparative Law 219 (2007). This bibliography focuses on secondary sources, predominantly in English.
I,PER K 10 .O5455
"Vietnamese Law: A Bibliography," by Pip Nicholson, 22 Legal Reference Services Quarterly 139 (2003). Most materials cited were published before 2001.
PER K 12 .E349
Martindale-Hubbell International Law Digest. The "digest" for each country (usually prepared by a leading law firm in the country) consists of detailed summaries of the law on selected substantive and procedural topics, arranged alphabetically. May cite to primary law.
LexisNexis : Legal > Find Laws by Country or Region > Foreign Laws & Legal Sources > International Law Digests > Mardindale-Hubbell® Law Digest-Asian Law Digests > New Zealand Law Digest
Nations of the World – Vietnam. Law Library of Congress.
Global Legal Monitor Law Library of Congress. Search or browse for news about legal developments.
AsianLII – Viet Nam Asian Legal Information Institute
WorldLII – Viet Nam World Legal Information Institute.
Vietnam Ministry of Justice - Legal Normative Documents
Vietnam Government Portal See "Strategies and Policies" for selected laws in English.
Asian Law Online. Asian Law Centre, Melbourne Law School. A bilbiographic database.
The Constitution of the Socialist republic of Vietnam, 1992 (unofficial English translation) is available in Constitutions of the Countries of the World . Also available in print.
I,MON K 3157 .A2B58 1971- v.20

Subscription sources for laws

Vietnam Law and Legal Forum. Vietnam News Agency. Vietnam’s official news agency. Information about new legislation and decisions is available free of charge, as is the table of contents of the official gazette (Công Báo) in English. Access to full texts of laws and legal articles is by subscription. Also published in print format as a monthly magazine, available from Factiva.
Vietnam Laws. Allens Arthur Robinson. This web site includes the Vietnam Laws Online Database, a searchable database of Vietnamese laws in English translation, available by subscription only. It also includes Vietnam Legal Update, which is available free of charge. One may register to receive monthly updates. See Legal Guide to Investment in Viet Nam.

Some recent readings:

Transplanting Commercial Law Reform: Developing a 'Rule of Law' in Vietnam, by John Gillespie. Aldershot, England ; Burlington, VT: Ashgate Pub. Company, 2006. N,HVI KPV 2020 .G55 2006
"Concept of law in Vietnam: Transforming Statist Socialism," in Asian Discourses of Rule of Law: Theories and Implementation of Rule of Law in Twelve Asian Countries, France and the U.S., edited by Randall Peerenboom. London; New York: RoutledgeCurzon, 2004.
N,HAA KM 514 .T48 2004
Vietnam's New Order: International Perspectives on the State and Reform in Vietnam, edited by Stéphanie Balme and Mark Sidel. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2007.
MAIN Library 327.597 V6665

Finding Books

Finding Books at Northwestern University

NUcat Searching Tips: using NUcat to search for books on a topic.
The preceding section explains how clicking on the "Library of Congress Subject Headings" in a catalog record can help to focus a search. Subject headings can also be searched directly. From the NUcat "Search" tab, search in "Subject Heading" or "Browse Subject Heading" Some Library of Congress Subject Headings are listed below. (The dashes and parentheses can be omitted.)
law reform -- Vietnam
Vietnam -- economic conditions

Finding Books at Other Libraries

WorldCat . WorldCat is a catalog with records from thousands of libraries. It can be used to identify materials not held by Northwestern University. Northwestern University students can place interlibrary loan requests either directly through WorldCat or via the interlibrary loan request form found on the library's home page.

Finding Articles

Journal articles are published in a wide range of subject areas relating to country research, such as history, politics, economics, sociology, gender studies, and religion. In order to identify relevant articles it is best to search the various specialized indexes to which Northwestern University subscribes. The following pages of the library's web site list many such indexes. Once a relevant article is identified, it may be possible to access an electronic version of the text by clicking on the "Find It At NU" buttion," or by doing a journal title search in NUcat for the name of the journal (not the title of the article). When searching an index, an "advanced" search is often easier to use than the basic search. When you find a relevant article, clicking on the "descriptors" or "subject headings" for that record may lead you to other relevant citations.

Find Legal Articles (mostly from U.S. and Anglo-American journals, including foreign and international law topics)
Finding Articles and Papers on Foreign and Comparative Law (for articles on law of countries other than the U.S. and comparative law methodology, from journals published both in the U.S. and abroad)
Finding Articles and Papers on International Law (for public and private international law)
Find Non-Law Articles (for subjects in the social sciences, humanities, and sciences)

Finding Dissertations

ProQuest Dissertations and Theses (PQDT) Entries for doctoral dissertations and master's theses, many of which are available for immediate free download. Can search by school, e.g., Northwestern.

Finding Statistics

News: General, Legal, and Business

Note that both Lexis and Westlaw allow you to create and save a search, to be run on a periodic basis, such as daily or weekly. For links to tutorials, see the Research Alerts page of the library's web site. Always check scope notes (click on information icon) for dates of coverage. Not all publications are current.

Many organizations make it possible to monitor news by means of an RSS/XML ("Really Simple Syndication") feed. For information of setting up RSS feeds, see the Research Alerts: RSS Feeds section of the library's web site.

LexisNexis .
News & Business > Country and Region (excluding US)> Asia Pacific >News
News & Business > Country and Region (excluding US) > Vietnam > News
Westlaw
International/worldwide materials > Asia and the Pacific Rim > Individual Country Materials > Vietnam >Business and News
Business and News tab > Global News > Far East News with Reuters
Saigon Times Online
Saigon Times Magazine Lexis (SGNTMS) Note: coverage ends November 2006. No longer updated.
Saigon Times Daily Westlaw (SAIGONTD) NOTE: Coverage ends August 2006. Database no longer updated.
VnEconomy News
Viet Nam News Vietnam News Agency. Vietnam's official news agency.
VietnamPlus Vietnam News Agency. Vietnam’s official news agency.
Vietnamese News Agency Lexis (VNA) Vietnam's official news agency.
Vietnam Investment Review Also available via Westlaw (VIETNMIR)
Nhan Dan Online “The central organ of the Communist party of Vietnam.” (English version).
VOV News Radio the Voice of Vietnam (English version). “ The Voice of Vietnam is a national radio station and government agency which broadcasts the Party’s guidelines and the country’s law…”
World News Connection . Provided to the National Technical Information Service (NTIS) by the Open Source Center (OSC). Monitors non-U.S. media sources.

International Business Resources

ABI/INFORM Business and management index. Citations and abstracts of articles from more than 1,300 journals, including over 350 English-language international sources. Full text articles from over 600 selected sources.Westlaw : ABI-INFORM (ABI/Inform (R) (DIALOG)) and ABI-INFORM Current (ABI/Inform (R) - Current (DIALOG))
Business Source Premier "[P]rovides nearly 3,300 full text scholarly publications, including more than 1,000 peer-reviewed journals. In addition to the full text, this database provides indexing and abstracts for more than 4,100 journals. This database offers information in nearly every area of business including management, economics, finance, accounting, international business, and more."
GlobalEDGE (TM) Resource Desk. Michigan State University.

See our web site's International Trade, Business, and Economic Law page.

Regional and International Organizations

Note: Vietnam is not necessarily a member of all the organizations listed below. However, these web sites are good sources of information about Vietnam.

Additional Resources for Special Topics

AIDS/HIV/Health
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) – Vietnam Country Profile
- UNAIDS Country Fact Sheets Select Vietnam.
- USAID Asia – Vietnam U. S. Agency for International Development.
- World Health Organization: Viet Nam. See also HIV/AIDS.

Criminal Justice
- United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime

Democracy in Transition
- International Political Science Abstracts . Citations and abstracts to English and non-English language periodicals throughout the world. Covers political science, public law, international law, and international relations.
- Worldwide Political Science Abstracts . Citations with abstracts from more than 1100 journals in political science and related disciplines. Coverage is international in scope.

Economic Development
- Asian Development Bank – Viet Nam
- United Nations Development Programme - Viet Nam
- World Bank - Vietnam
- EconLit Citations and selected abstracts to articles from more than 400 economics journals.

Environment/Land Use/Natural Resources
- ECOLEX. World Conservation Union (IUCN). A database of imformation on environmental law.
- FAOLEX. Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. A legislative database on food, agriculture, and renewable natural resources.

Human Rights
- 2009 Human Rights Reports – Vietnam U. S. Dept. of Sate.
- Viet Nam 2009 Report Amnesty International.
- Human Rights Watch – Vietnam
- United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights: Viet Nam
- Human Rights portion of Pritzker Legal Research Center web site

Refugees/Immigration
- Guide to International Refugee Resources on the Web. By Elisa Mason (LLRX.com, 2009).
- UNHCR – Viet Nam. Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees
- Forced Migration Online. University of Oxford.

Vietnam War
- The Wars for Vietnam: 1945 to 1975. Vassar College. Overview, documents, and links concerning the Vietnam War.

Women's and Children's Issues
- UNICEF: Viet Nam
- Contemporary Women's Issues Women's studies, including works on sociology, psychology, health, education, and human rights.

		Conduct Research Foreign and Comparative Law International Team Project: Vietnam - Research Checklist
	Conduct Research
	Conduct Research

	U.S. Primary Law U.S. Government Resources (federal, state and local) Illinois and Chicago International Law Foreign and Comparative Law Getting Started Finding Articles and Papers Law by Country or Region Law by Subject General Resources by Country or Region Statistical Resources Selected Topics Find Books, Articles, etc. Writing a Paper or Article Research Alerts	International Team Project: Vietnam - Research Checklist This is a selective list of resources prepared for students participating in the International Team Project: Vietnam course at Northwestern University School of Law in the spring 2011 semester, by Irene Berkey, Foreign and International Law Librarian. For questions about this guide, contact Heidi Kuehl, Foreign, Comparative, and International Law Librarian and Coordinator of Educational Programming and Outreach (e-mail \| (312) 503-4725) This list provides detailed information on resources for the law and legal system. For other areas of country research, links are provided to the relevant section of the law library's web site. Most materials cited are in English. Note that the English language versions of foreign language websites do not always have the same content as the vernacular version. Country Information General Resources by Country or Region The resources listed in this section, both print and online, together provide a great deal of information on the history, geography, government, economy, etc., of the countries of the world. See "Resources for more than one country or region." Also, under the heading "Resources by Country or Region," see the sub-topic "Asia." Selected Web Sites For Vietnam Vietnam Government Portal (English) Ministry of Justice Vietnam Embassy in the United States Ministry of Foreign Affairs (English) Vietnam links from Cornell University Southeast Asia Program Asian Studies Web Sites and Databases International Database of Viet Nam Scholars Vietnam Studies Group, University of Washington. Laws and Legal System Introductions, Research Guides, and Selected Internet Resources: Vietnam Legal Research, by Anh Luu (GlobaLex, 2010). The author is a Vietnamese lawyer and a former LLM student at New York University. An introduction to the country and its legal system (rather than to specific laws). Foreign Law Guide: Current Sources of Codes and Basic Legislation in Jurisdictions of the World , by Thomas H. Reynolds and Arturo A. Flores ("Reynolds and Flores"). The single most important bibliographic resource for foreign law research. Includes introductory materials (in-depth discussion of the legal history and legal publication), major publications, and citations to official sources for laws on specific subjects. It also cites to unofficial sources for detailed discussion and/or English language translations. Legal Systems of the World: A Political, Social, and Cultural Encyclopedia, ed. by Herbert M. Kritzer (ABC-CLIO, 2002). Short articles on each country (or non-jurisdictional legal system) place the legal system in context. Vietnam chapter is in volume 4, pages 1753-1759. I,REF K 48 .L44 2002 vols. 1-4 "Vietnamese Law: A Guide to Sources and Commentary," by Penelope (Pip) Nicholson and Quan Hien Nguyen, 2 Journal of Comparative Law 219 (2007). This bibliography focuses on secondary sources, predominantly in English. I,PER K 10 .O5455 "Vietnamese Law: A Bibliography," by Pip Nicholson, 22 Legal Reference Services Quarterly 139 (2003). Most materials cited were published before 2001. PER K 12 .E349 Martindale-Hubbell International Law Digest. The "digest" for each country (usually prepared by a leading law firm in the country) consists of detailed summaries of the law on selected substantive and procedural topics, arranged alphabetically. May cite to primary law. LexisNexis : Legal > Find Laws by Country or Region > Foreign Laws & Legal Sources > International Law Digests > Mardindale-Hubbell® Law Digest-Asian Law Digests > New Zealand Law Digest Nations of the World – Vietnam. Law Library of Congress. Global Legal Monitor Law Library of Congress. Search or browse for news about legal developments. AsianLII – Viet Nam Asian Legal Information Institute WorldLII – Viet Nam World Legal Information Institute. Vietnam Ministry of Justice - Legal Normative Documents Vietnam Government Portal See "Strategies and Policies" for selected laws in English. Asian Law Online. Asian Law Centre, Melbourne Law School. A bilbiographic database. The Constitution of the Socialist republic of Vietnam, 1992 (unofficial English translation) is available in Constitutions of the Countries of the World . Also available in print. I,MON K 3157 .A2B58 1971- v.20 Subscription sources for laws Vietnam Law and Legal Forum. Vietnam News Agency. Vietnam’s official news agency. Information about new legislation and decisions is available free of charge, as is the table of contents of the official gazette (Công Báo) in English. Access to full texts of laws and legal articles is by subscription. Also published in print format as a monthly magazine, available from Factiva. Vietnam Laws. Allens Arthur Robinson. This web site includes the Vietnam Laws Online Database, a searchable database of Vietnamese laws in English translation, available by subscription only. It also includes Vietnam Legal Update, which is available free of charge. One may register to receive monthly updates. See Legal Guide to Investment in Viet Nam. Some recent readings: Transplanting Commercial Law Reform: Developing a 'Rule of Law' in Vietnam, by John Gillespie. Aldershot, England ; Burlington, VT: Ashgate Pub. Company, 2006. N,HVI KPV 2020 .G55 2006 "Concept of law in Vietnam: Transforming Statist Socialism," in Asian Discourses of Rule of Law: Theories and Implementation of Rule of Law in Twelve Asian Countries, France and the U.S., edited by Randall Peerenboom. London; New York: RoutledgeCurzon, 2004. N,HAA KM 514 .T48 2004 Vietnam's New Order: International Perspectives on the State and Reform in Vietnam, edited by Stéphanie Balme and Mark Sidel. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2007. MAIN Library 327.597 V6665 Finding Books Finding Books at Northwestern University NUcat Searching Tips: using NUcat to search for books on a topic. The preceding section explains how clicking on the "Library of Congress Subject Headings" in a catalog record can help to focus a search. Subject headings can also be searched directly. From the NUcat "Search" tab, search in "Subject Heading" or "Browse Subject Heading" Some Library of Congress Subject Headings are listed below. (The dashes and parentheses can be omitted.) law reform -- Vietnam Vietnam -- economic conditions Finding Books at Other Libraries WorldCat . WorldCat is a catalog with records from thousands of libraries. It can be used to identify materials not held by Northwestern University. Northwestern University students can place interlibrary loan requests either directly through WorldCat or via the interlibrary loan request form found on the library's home page. Finding Articles Journal articles are published in a wide range of subject areas relating to country research, such as history, politics, economics, sociology, gender studies, and religion. In order to identify relevant articles it is best to search the various specialized indexes to which Northwestern University subscribes. The following pages of the library's web site list many such indexes. Once a relevant article is identified, it may be possible to access an electronic version of the text by clicking on the "Find It At NU" buttion," or by doing a journal title search in NUcat for the name of the journal (not the title of the article). When searching an index, an "advanced" search is often easier to use than the basic search. When you find a relevant article, clicking on the "descriptors" or "subject headings" for that record may lead you to other relevant citations. Find Legal Articles (mostly from U.S. and Anglo-American journals, including foreign and international law topics) Finding Articles and Papers on Foreign and Comparative Law (for articles on law of countries other than the U.S. and comparative law methodology, from journals published both in the U.S. and abroad) Finding Articles and Papers on International Law (for public and private international law) Find Non-Law Articles (for subjects in the social sciences, humanities, and sciences) Finding Dissertations ProQuest Dissertations and Theses (PQDT) Entries for doctoral dissertations and master's theses, many of which are available for immediate free download. Can search by school, e.g., Northwestern. Finding Statistics General Statistics Office of Vietnam Worldwide Statistical Resources News: General, Legal, and Business Note that both Lexis and Westlaw allow you to create and save a search, to be run on a periodic basis, such as daily or weekly. For links to tutorials, see the Research Alerts page of the library's web site. Always check scope notes (click on information icon) for dates of coverage. Not all publications are current. Many organizations make it possible to monitor news by means of an RSS/XML ("Really Simple Syndication") feed. For information of setting up RSS feeds, see the Research Alerts: RSS Feeds section of the library's web site. LexisNexis . News & Business > Country and Region (excluding US)> Asia Pacific >News News & Business > Country and Region (excluding US) > Vietnam > News Westlaw International/worldwide materials > Asia and the Pacific Rim > Individual Country Materials > Vietnam >Business and News Business and News tab > Global News > Far East News with Reuters Saigon Times Online Saigon Times Magazine Lexis (SGNTMS) Note: coverage ends November 2006. No longer updated. Saigon Times Daily Westlaw (SAIGONTD) NOTE: Coverage ends August 2006. Database no longer updated. VnEconomy News Viet Nam News Vietnam News Agency. Vietnam's official news agency. VietnamPlus Vietnam News Agency. Vietnam’s official news agency. Vietnamese News Agency Lexis (VNA) Vietnam's official news agency. Vietnam Investment Review Also available via Westlaw (VIETNMIR) Nhan Dan Online “The central organ of the Communist party of Vietnam.” (English version). VOV News Radio the Voice of Vietnam (English version). “ The Voice of Vietnam is a national radio station and government agency which broadcasts the Party’s guidelines and the country’s law…” World News Connection . Provided to the National Technical Information Service (NTIS) by the Open Source Center (OSC). Monitors non-U.S. media sources. International Business Resources ABI/INFORM Business and management index. Citations and abstracts of articles from more than 1,300 journals, including over 350 English-language international sources. Full text articles from over 600 selected sources.Westlaw : ABI-INFORM (ABI/Inform (R) (DIALOG)) and ABI-INFORM Current (ABI/Inform (R) - Current (DIALOG)) Business Source Premier "[P]rovides nearly 3,300 full text scholarly publications, including more than 1,000 peer-reviewed journals. In addition to the full text, this database provides indexing and abstracts for more than 4,100 journals. This database offers information in nearly every area of business including management, economics, finance, accounting, international business, and more." GlobalEDGE (TM) Resource Desk. Michigan State University. See our web site's International Trade, Business, and Economic Law page. Regional and International Organizations Note: Vietnam is not necessarily a member of all the organizations listed below. However, these web sites are good sources of information about Vietnam. Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) International Labour Organization (ILO) Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) United Nations Economic, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) World Health Organization (WHO) Additional Resources for Special Topics AIDS/HIV/Health Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) – Vietnam Country Profile UNAIDS Country Fact Sheets Select Vietnam. USAID Asia – Vietnam U. S. Agency for International Development. World Health Organization: Viet Nam. See also HIV/AIDS. Criminal Justice United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime Democracy in Transition International Political Science Abstracts . Citations and abstracts to English and non-English language periodicals throughout the world. Covers political science, public law, international law, and international relations. Worldwide Political Science Abstracts . Citations with abstracts from more than 1100 journals in political science and related disciplines. Coverage is international in scope. Economic Development Asian Development Bank – Viet Nam United Nations Development Programme - Viet Nam World Bank - Vietnam EconLit Citations and selected abstracts to articles from more than 400 economics journals. Environment/Land Use/Natural Resources ECOLEX. World Conservation Union (IUCN). A database of imformation on environmental law. FAOLEX. Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. A legislative database on food, agriculture, and renewable natural resources. Human Rights 2009 Human Rights Reports – Vietnam U. S. Dept. of Sate. Viet Nam 2009 Report Amnesty International. Human Rights Watch – Vietnam United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights: Viet Nam Human Rights portion of Pritzker Legal Research Center web site Refugees/Immigration Guide to International Refugee Resources on the Web. By Elisa Mason (LLRX.com, 2009). UNHCR – Viet Nam. Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees Forced Migration Online. University of Oxford. Vietnam War The Wars for Vietnam: 1945 to 1975. Vassar College. Overview, documents, and links concerning the Vietnam War. Women's and Children's Issues UNICEF: Viet Nam Contemporary Women's Issues Women's studies, including works on sociology, psychology, health, education, and human rights.