This article focuses on analyzing the achievements, challenges, and lessons learned in the process of building the Socialist Rule of Law in Vietnam after nearly 40 years of renovation, with the goal of proposing the direction of building and perfecting the Socialist Rule of Law in the new period, and ensuring its conformity with Vietnamese realities and international integration. The article draws on data from documents of the Communist Party of Vietnam, the 2013 Constitution, relevant laws and resolutions, along with data from reports on administrative reform and the promulgation of legal documents. The research methods used include document analysis, comparison, and synthesis in order to assess the reality and propose solutions to the problems identified. Alongside the achievements gained, building a Socialist Rule of Law State in Vietnam still faces many challenges. This article identifies the main orientations for constructing a Socialist Rule of Law State in Vietnam in the coming period.

A state of emergency allows authorities to exercise special powers, including the temporary suspension of regular legal provisions and human rights standards. This scenario engenders a conflict between extraordinary powers and the foundational principles of the rule of law. This paper investigates one of the most contentious legal dilemmas concerning emergency powers: whether these powers must be exercised within the bounds of legal constraints. This paper also explores whether ordinary principles of legality apply in situations involving emergency powers. This study aims to examine how this tension is approached from different perspectives. It focuses on discussing the challenges for the rule of law in the state of emergency. It also studies Vietnam’s approach to addressing these challenges during the COVID-19 pandemic.