Vietnam is undergoing what officials call an administrative "revolution," part of a broader campaign to modernize the state, jumpstart economic growth, and consolidate political power in the hands of the Communist Party's upper ranks.

To Lam, the country's new party chief, is spearheading the reforms. He took the helm following the death of his predecessor Nguyen Phu Trong last year. Of the reforms, Lam said: "If we want to have a healthy body, sometimes we must take bitter medicine and endure pain to remove tumors."

At the heart of this transformation is a sweeping plan to trim bureaucracy and reorganize the state. In March, Hanoi began merging five cabinet ministries and three national-level agencies. Simultaneously, dozens of state-run media outlets and radio stations were shuttered or merged. Even the Communist Party's own commissions and internal departments are being slimmed down.

This "revolution" is expected to eliminate around 100,000 public sector jobs — roughly 15% of the one-party state's entire bureaucracy. Officials say the cuts will make the state more agile and redirect public resources toward economic growth, with the goal of attaining high-income status by 2045.

Changes to Vietnam's administrative map are allowing for these cuts. In April, the government approved a plan to reduce the number of provinces and municipalities from 63 to 34 through mergers. District-level governance will be abolished, leaving only two layers of local government: the provinces and the commune-level administrations. This two-tier........

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