The French invasion produced a change in power structures, which arrived alongside Western modes of thinking around issues of state governance and civic involvement. Individualist and informal modes of organization were increasingly adopted across Vietnamese society. The balance between local contestation and state hierarchy was called into question as a more liberal model of civil society was encouraged, most notably through education. Ironically, the colonial regime and European currents of thought promoted an expansion of civil society’s domain and opened the door to a challenge of the authorities (Lux et Straussman, 2004).
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