This book explains the dynamics behind the economic transformation from the colonial era to the
post-independence period in Indonesia and Vietnam. It analyses the different Vietnamese and
Indonesian government approaches to the economic legacies of colonialism remaining in these
countries after independence. It also demonstrates that despite critical differences between
the two nation-states the Vietnamese and Indonesian leaderships were pursuing similar
long-term goals: to create a truly independent national economy. The book discusses the way in
which the Indonesian government established complete economic control resembling the socialist
transformation of North Vietnam in the 1950s and the various means by which the government of
South Vietnam concentrated economic power in its own hands during the late 1950s and early
1960s. It also explores how the Indonesian government was determined remove the economic legacy
of Dutch colonialism by placing the entire economy under strong state control and ownership in
accordance with the spirit of Guided Democracy and Guided Economy in the late 1950s and the
early 1960s. This book is a point of reference for students researchers and academics
interested in a comparative analysis of the economic systems implemented by the colonial and
fascist powers in Indonesia and Vietnam.
