The title of the workshop was “Security and vulnerability: Vietnam at a threshold moment” and the premise of the meeting was that the “unipolar moment” of US world leadership, ushered in by the collapse of the Soviet Union, seems to be over. Instead, a new period of rising tensions between great powers has begun, which is characterized by fierce competition over markets, digital technology, material resources, capital flow. Armed conflicts over territory, ongoing as well as potential foster transnational disinformation campaigns and a new focus on national security. As countries compete to shape the world order and ecosystems of international flows, e.g., supply chains and flows of commodities and capital,  conflicts can be managed for economic and developmental purposes, or are triggered to wear out the opponents in realist zero-sum games. In these power plays, trade and currency wars, control over critical resources, friend-shoring, investment screening, and proxy wars are among the tools of great powers. In such a context, countries that find themselves at the boundaries of the world’s “geopolitical tectonic plates”, face serious security scenarios as conflicts often take place at their “fault lines”. Furthermore, these  are often smaller states, lacking in resources and influence, and therefore more vulnerable. The aim of this workshop addressed the security challenges faced by  Vietnam at this threshold moment of international power struggle.

 
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