REPRESENTATIVE BUREAUCRACY AND INCLUSION: CITIZEN PARTICIPATION OF ETHNIC MINORITIES IN VIETNAM

Abstract

In the context of Vietnam, with fifty-four ethnic minority groups and sixty-three provinces/municipalities, this study aims to fill a gap in the literature by looking at ethnic representation and its influence on citizen participation at the local level based on Representative Bureaucracy and Inclusion theory. We use the combination of three datasets the Public Administration Performance Index (PAPI), the Committee for Ethnic Minorities Affair, and the General Statistics Office of 63 provinces in Vietnam from 2012 to 2017. We run a panel data analysis random-effects model (REM) with White-Huber standard errors to correct heteroskedasticity in current years to estimate the effects. Findings support the research hypothesis that ethnic minority groups in Vietnam are negatively associated with citizen participation in the local government, particularly in civic knowledge. Additionally, the level of citizen participation is also negatively related to the urbanization, unemployment, and poverty rates of each province. However, it is positively associated with the education level of each province's population. With these findings, this study also proposes some policy implications to ensure the development rights of ethnic minorities in Vietnam.