The Government and Mistrust: Illegibility and Bureaucratic Power in Socialist Vietnam

(University of Wisconsin Press) The Government of Mistrust examines the creation and misuse of government documents in Vietnam since the 1920s to reveal how profoundly bureaucratic dynamics have affected Vietnamese efforts to build a socialist society. MacLean exposes how the mistrust and ambiguity of the bureaucratic system has shaped Vietnamese socialism in surprising ways. MacLean is an assistant professor of international development and social change at Clark University.