The Socialist Republic of Vietnam, just like other countries, functions in determined conditions which influence the way of determining and understanding the security and shaping of the security policy. There prevails a division to problems of an internal and external nature. While talking about and indicating global problems which in consequence can influence the internal security of a country, challenges and threats that countries face need to be noticed. These are ecological, demographic, political, economic and social threats. While looking at factors determining the internal security of a country, special attention needs to be paid to the state of relations and its surroundings, a state of system stability, a level of social peace, a level of public safety and a level of public order.

Although a current and marketable term in the literature and political discourses, the notion of ‘international role’ still lacks a clear and succinct, let alone consensually applicable, definition. This article posits that, from the actorness perspective as a point of departure, the concept of “international role” may well be assessed through the lenses of the quad-element “PIPP” analytical model, which is herewith developed. Thereby, the analysis of actor’s international role has to make a long conceptual sojourn from power, influence presence to performance (PIPP). These four embedded concepts (PIPP model) help assess the explanandum, i.e. “actor’s international role”, in a theoretically-informed, systematic and holistic way, thus avoiding the pitfalls of sporadic (mis) usage found in common parlance.