A leadership position in a state agency not only ensures benefits for individuals and their families, but also increases the honor, prestige, and traditions of their families as well as the localities where they were born.

Therefore, resigning is always a difficult decision not only because this means ending someone’s career and challenges, but also has a negative impact on the prestige of families, agencies and localities where they reside.

In developed countries, resignation is not a common phenomenon because the move affects benefits, power, prestige, fame and political-social position of individuals and the institutions of which they are members. 

Though there are more officials taking the initiative in resigning from their positions in these countries, this is not enough to conclude that these countries have a "resignation culture".

In other words, even in liberty-oriented political systems such as the US and Japan, resigning is not the result of self-criticism. It is difficult to find individuals who resign because they find their virtues and capability are no longer suitable to the positions they hold.

Resignations

Encouraging cadres who are not sufficiently capable and prestigious to resign from their post is an issue mentioned in the 12th tenure 4th Central Committee Resolution and Conclusion No 21-KL/TW of the 4th Plenum of the 13th Central Committee on Party construction and rectification.

On November 3, 2021, the Party Central Committee issued Regulation No41-QD/TW on considering the dismissal and resignation of cadres who cannot satisfy requirements on social prestige, political virtues and professional capability. 

The government also released Resolution No 30/NQ-CP dated March 22, 2022 on the government’s action plan to implement the Central Committee’s resolutions and conclusions.

Most recently, on August 18, 2022, the Politburo issued Regulation No 80-QD/TW on the decentralization of cadre management and the appointment and introduction of candidate cadres, which includes guidance on implementing dismissal and resignation of cadres who no longer meet requirements.

In the last two decades, Vietnam has seen some cases of high-ranking leaders and officials resigning from their posts. Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Le Huy Ngo, for example, resigned in early 2004 after he was disciplined at the ninth plenum of the 9th tenure.

More recently, Bach Ngoc Chien, former Deputy Chair of Nam Dinh People’s Committee, Deputy Chair of VUSTA (Vietnam Union of Science and Technology Associations) in 2020, stopped working for the State.

These cases raised controversy, which shows the complexity of the situation. To date, resigning remains a difficult decision because of pressure and social ties.

Resignation rarely occurs in Vietnam because of institutional ties. "Collective leads, individual undertakings to manage" is the principle being applied in the whole political system and administration. All important decisions of agencies must be approved by leader teams.

Therefore, when violations occur, it is very difficult to blame individuals, except those who directly commit violations. Since decisions are made by the organization, the responsibility is blamed on a group of leaders. So, the head of the organization won’t resign and claim responsibility for the organization’s decision.

Normal practice

Resigning is an act that requires a spirit of honor, self-respect, and a high sense of self-discipline. Individuals only resign if they are brave enough to overcome pressure of fame and wealth, and public opinions.

Therefore, resignation is encouraged but voluntary resignation is should not be expected. Resignation is the decision that no individual thinks he/she would do in his/her career, therefore, there is no firm foundation to form the ‘resignation culture’ in Vietnam.

Instead, it is necessary to create practice to step-by-step change perceptions, to make resignation a normal thing among state officers. In order to create practice, one thing that can be done now is using institutional tools to increase the number of officers who have to leave their posts as they fail to meet the requirements. This will create influences to awareness and behaviors of officials and the society towards resignation.

Nguyen Van Dang (Ho Chi Minh National Academy of Politics)