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Relations between the United States and Vietnam entered a new era in July 2013 with the conclusion of the U.S.-Vietnam comprehensive partnership agreement announced by President Barack Obama and President Truong Tan Sang. The U.S.-Vietnam comprehensive partnership is an overarching framework for strengthening and deepening cooperation across nine sectors: political and diplomatic relations, trade and economic ties, science and technology, education and training, environment and health, war legacy issues, defence and security, protection and promotion of human rights, and culture, sports and tourism. It has been four years since the U.S.-Vietnam comprehensive partnership was officially launched. It is, therefore, time to assess this comprehensive partnership. The article will begin with a brief literature review which demonstrates the needs to produce a dedicated analysis of U.S.-Vietnam comprehensive partnership before examining the U.S. and Vietnamese concepts of a comprehensive partnership. It also seeks to explore what have motivated Hanoi and Washington to elevate their bilateral relations to a new height. The article goes on to evaluate developments in the U.S.-Vietnam relations from July 2013 up to July 2017 on five main sectors: economic ties, security cooperation, people-to-people ties, cooperation on humanitarian and war legacy issues, cooperation on regional and global challenges. It will demonstrate that the U.S.-Vietnam relationship has achieved important progresses since the announcement of the U.S.-Vietnam comprehensive partnership. Last but not least, the article will look at the possible shapes of the United States and Vietnam in the future.

The Obama administration perceives the Asia-Pacific as a vital and dynamic region and thus prioritized it in its foreign policy agenda. Some scholars have suggested that the Obama administration's rebalance towards Asia has taken a realist approach to engagement with the Asia-Pacific while others suggested that it deviated significantly from realism. This article seeks to examine more closely the question of the realist nature of the US rebalance policy towards the Asia-Pacific. It begins with a discussion of views of the Obama administration's rebalance towards the Asia-Pacific before giving an overview of realism. Then, it seeks to establish a realist model of foreign policy and examine the Obama administration's rebalance towards the Asia-Pacific against that model. It finds that the Obama administration has high scores on two of the indicators of realism—the emphasis on military capabilities and the emphasis on alliance-building—but has lower scores on the third and the fourth—a low regard for multilateral institutions, and a low regard for values. The Obama administration has actively engaged with regional institutions and has strongly supported the spread of democracy and human dignity all over the Asia-Pacific. Hence, the Obama administration's rebalance towards the Asia-Pacific is a realist foreign policy with certain modifications.

This essay offers an insight into one of the most significant bilateral relations in modern world politics: the U.S.-and-China relationship. It argues that the United States, the world's most powerful nation, and China, a rising power, are heading toward cooperation rather than confrontation. In spite of differences between them, the United States and China have become highly interdependent and have sought to increase cooperation in various realms, namely economics, strategic issues (climate change, non-proliferation, and counterterrorism), education, and tourism. They will seek to avoid a mighty struggle for influence and make an effort to strengthen mutual interests and sector-to-sector cooperation. It is concluded in this essay that the United States and China can cooperate for the sake of their own national interests, and their cooperation is what the world appeals for. The analysis of the U.S.-and-China relations in this essay is based on the data obtainable from the United States and Chinese official bodies and on scholarly literature. (Asian Aff/GIGA)

Abstract
This paper surveys the history of the United States policy towards European integration from 1945 up to 1968 before President Nixon came into office. Drawing on a detailed analysis of the documents mostly obtainable from the official websites of the US Department of State, the US National Archives, and the EU Historical Archives, the paper argues that it was the European geopolitical and economic context after the Second World War and the United States national interests which moulded this country's pro-European integration policy. Thus, the paper will begin with an analysis of the search for global influence between the United States and the Soviet Union before examining how the United States redefined its core interests in recognition of the Soviet threat. Then, it will explore the role that the United States played in reconstructing Western European economy and defending it physically. Also, it is argued that the United States and Western Europe took concerted action together to create the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC), European Economic Community (EEC), and the European Atomic Energy Community (EAEC or Euratom), the very first supranational institutions which have made the European integration process irreversible. It will be concluded that the vitality of the European integration project depended on US economic and political capital for its success.

This book is the result of the first interdisciplinary conference in Vietnam which took place on "the Rule of Law." Instead of beginning immediately with a highly specialized debate from the perspective of one single academic discipline, we started to discuss numerous facets of the subject arising from a multidisciplinary dialogue. For this reason, the contributions for this publication come from various scientific disciplines in Vietnam and Germany: political, historical, social, economic and legal sciences, but also members of Vietnamese governmental and non-governmental organizations. The aim of the volume is to open up a dialogue about the Rule of Law between two very different legal cultures, the German-European and the Vietnamese-Southeast Asian.

Frontmatter --Table of Contents --Introduction --I. Traditions --A Brief History of the Idea of the State of Law and Its Basic Indicators --Thoughts and Policies on Governing the People under the Ly-Tran and the Early Le Dynasties: Experiences and Historical Lessons --Some Signs of a State of Law in Vietnam in the Monarchical Time --The French "État legale" in Vietnam. Between Legal Pluralism and Police State --II. Theoretical Reflections --Separation of Powers in Pre-modern Western Political Thought and the Building of the State of Law in Vietnam --Rousseau's Thoughts on the Division and Control of State Power. A Comparison with Montesquieu's Model --Ruling with Law. On the Significance of Rules of Organization and Procedure --III. Global Trends and Challenges --The Rule of Law and the Emergence of Market Exchange: A New Institutional Economic Perspective --The Rule of Law in the Global Development of Constitutionalism --Rule of Law and Global Governance --IV. Contemporary Debates --State Reformation and Improvement -- towards a Vietnamese State of Law --The Issue of the Rule of Law in Vietnam in the Constitution of 2013 --The State of Law and the Creation of a Human Rights Culture --The Development of the Civil Society and the Socialist Law-based State in Vietnam --Anti-Corruption from the Perspective of Ho Chi Minh's Ideology: Towards a Vietnamese Rule of Law --Rule of Law and Codes of Trust. Interdependencies between Legal and Social Institutions: A Case Study of China --The Role of the Press in the Construction of a Legitimate State in Vietnam Today --On the Civil Society and the State of Law in Vietnam --The State of Law in Vietnam: Understandings, Prospects and Challenges --List of Tables