3 - SINGAPORE GOVERNANCE IN FLUX

Summary

INTRODUCTION

This chapter begins the empirical heart of the book by addressing the changing dynamics of governance in Singapore. It does so in accordance with the analytical framework established in Chapter Two in which, for current purposes, governance is seen as a mode of governing involving not only the state, but most importantly, civil society. Within these two domains, this chapter attempts to identify why and how government and non-government organizations in Singapore form networks, thus, playing a crucial role as principal actors in a particular policy field, the environment, in this case. Network formation is an essential component of governing capacity within the governance framework (Peters 2004). Such dynamics and the type of governance order explaining them are further elucidated in the three case studies subsequently presented in Chapters Four to Six, and in the concluding Chapter Seven. The evolving dynamics of governance observed in specific features of state-society relations in various policy domains, together with succession, the limits of government control and the government's economic role constitute, at present, Singapore's key political issues (Koh and Ooi 2000; (I[(12) 20 January 2004, Appendix XIII]).

GOVERNANCE, STATE AND CIVIL SOCIETY

The realities of Singapore governance, in general and of environmental governance, in particular are best uncovered by analysing the country's history, administrative and political reforms, and how these have affected the nature and role of the state and civil society.

Political Survival and PAP Monopoly: The First Thirty-six Years (1954–90)

On 21 November 2004, the People's Action Party (PAP) turned fifty. As celebrations were launched in April, Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong reflected that the PAP had delivered on its promises: independence, prosperity, and lately, more political and civil space (Straits Times, 27 April 2004). It is hard to argue against the first two claims, but there is a significantly large body of literature, mostly Western in origin, challenging the latter. These and subsequent chapters are an attempt to understand the “real” features and dynamics of Singapore governance so as to comprehend whether “opening up” has been realized in the last fourteen years. But how did it all start and which are the historical factors that have shaped Singapore's original governing ideology and subsequent strategies and policies?