Description
Book SynopsisThis book delves into the limitations of Singapore’s authoritarian governance model. In doing so, the relevance of the Singapore governance model for other industrialising economies is systematically examined. Research in this book examines the challenges for an integrated governance model that has proven durable over four to five decades. The editors argue that established socio-political and economic formulae are now facing unprecedented challenges. Structural pressures associated with Singapore’s particular locus within globalised capitalism have fostered heightened social and material inequalities, compounded by the ruling party’s ideological resistance to substantive redistribution. As ‘growth with equity’ becomes more elusive, the rationale for power by a ruling party dominated by technocratic elite and state institutions crafted and controlled by the ruling party and its bureaucratic allies is open to more critical scrutiny.
Table of Contents1. Introduction: Authoritarian Governance in Singapore’s Developmental State.- 2. Singapore and the Lineages of Authoritarian Modernity in East Asia.- 3. Independence: The Further Stage of Colonialism in Singapore.- 4. Albert Winsemius and the Transnational Origins of High Modernist Governance in Singapore.- 5. Social Policy Reform and Rigidity in Singapore’s Authoritarian Developmental State.- 6. New Politics and Old Managerialism: Welcome to the New Normal.- 7. Intra-Party Dynamics in the People’s Action Party: Party Structure, Continuity and Hegemony.- 8. The Growing Challenge of Pluralism and Political Activism: Shifts in the Hegemonic Discourse in Singapore.- 9. PAP Vulnerability and the Singapore Governance Model: Findings from the Asian Barometer Survey.- 10. Aligning Media Policy with Executive Dominance.- 11. Pragmatic Competence and Communication Governance in Singapore.- 12. Legislating Dominance: Parliament and the Making of Singapore’s Governance Model.- 13. Governing Authoritarian Law: Law as Security.- 14. Conclusion: Democratising Singapore’s Developmental State.
