Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-dk4vv Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-29T06:01:43.277Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Power and Populism: What the Singapore Model Means for the Chinese Dream

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 May 2018

Benjamin Tze Ern Ho
Benjamin Tze Ern Ho*
Affiliation:
S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, Singapore. Email: isteho@ntu.edu.sg.
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Singapore's political system is sometimes criticized by proponents of liberal democracy as being highly authoritarian and inhibiting of individual freedom. Yet, as the recent 2015 general elections show, Singaporeans have largely consented to such a model as a legitimate social contract between themselves and the government. Given that the Singapore model is widely studied by Chinese officials as a positive pattern for governance, what do the latest results say about the future of the Chinese governing system, and to what extent is the Communist Party able to wield power while catering to populist sentiments, in particular the achievement of the Chinese dream?

摘要

新加坡政治体系时而被自由民主的学家指责为独裁制度, 约束了人民的自由主权。然而在 2015 年的国家大选, 大部分新加坡国民对这一种社会契约表示赞同。由于新加坡模式受了许多中国官员的广泛研究作为优越的治理模式, 因此我们如何看待中国治理系统的未来成果?共产党能否同时持守权利, 同时符合人民的要求, 以至于实现中国梦?

Keywords

SingaporeChinapopulismChinese Dream新加坡模式中国梦李光耀治国系统
Type
Research Article
Information
The China Quarterly , Volume 236 , December 2018 , pp. 968 - 987
Copyright
Copyright © SOAS University of London 2018 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Acharya, Amitav. 2007. Singapore's Foreign Policy: The Search for Regional Order. London: World Scientific.Google Scholar
Ang, Cheng Guan. 2015. “Singapore and Lee Kuan Yew's worldview.” In Kassim, Yang R. and Ali, Mushahid (eds.), Reflections: The Legacy of Lee Kuan Yew. Singapore: World Scientific, 40–45.Google Scholar
Ba, Alice D. 2010. “Regional security in East Asia: ASEAN's value added and limitations.” Journal of Current Southeast Asian Affairs 29(3), 115–130.Google Scholar
Barr, Michael D. 2014. “The bonsai under the banyan tree: democracy and democratisation in Singapore.” Democratization 21(1), 29–48.Google Scholar
Berger, Peter L. 1987. In Search of an East Asian Development Model. New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction Books, 1987, 1–11.Google Scholar
Breslin, Shaun. 2011. “The ‘China model’ and the global crisis: from Friedrich List to a Chinese mode of governance?” International Affairs 87(6), 1323–43.Google Scholar
Callahan, William A. 2004. “National insecurities: humiliation, salvation, and Chinese nationalism.” Alternatives: Global, Local, Political 29(2), 199–218.Google Scholar
Callahan, William A. 2012. “Sino-speak: Chinese exceptionalism and the politics of history.” The Journal of Asian Studies 71(1), 33–55.Google Scholar
Callahan, William A. 2013. China Dreams: 20 Visions of the Future. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Callahan, William A. 2016. “China's ‘Asia Dream’.” Asian Journal of Comparative Politics 1(3), 226–243.Google Scholar
Chai, Chin Neo. 2013. “PAP adopts resolution to forge the way forward,” Todayonline, December 10, http://www.todayonline.com/singapore/pap-adopts-resolution-forge-way-forward. Accessed 26 April 2017.Google Scholar
Chan, Heng Chee. 1975. “Politics in an administrative state: where has the politics gone?” In Meow, Seah Chee (ed.), Trends in Singapore: Proceedings and Background Paper. Singapore: Singapore University Press, 51–68.Google Scholar
Chan, Lai-Ha, Lee, Pak K. and Chan, Gerald. 2008. “Rethinking global governance: a China model in the making?” Contemporary Politics 14(1), 3–19.Google Scholar
Chang, Jun Yan. 2016. “Essence of security communities: explaining ASEAN.” International Relations of the Asia-Pacific 16(3), 335–369.Google Scholar
Chang, Rachel. 2015. “Singapore Budget 2015: Ministerial salary have not risen in past three years,” The Straits Times, 10 March. http://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/singapore-budget-2015-ministerial-salaries-have-not-risen-in-past-three-years. Accessed 26 April 2017.Google Scholar
Char, James. 2015. “A Turning Point in China's Anti-Graft Campaign,” The Diplomat, 11 January. http://thediplomat.com/2015/01/a-turning-point-in-chinas-anti-graft-campaign/. Accessed 29 February 2016.Google Scholar
Chee, Hong Tat. 2016. “In dealings with the world: Lee focused on Singapore's interest,” The Straits Times, 24 March. http://news.asiaone.com/news/asian-opinions/dealings-world-lee-focused-singapores-interest. Accessed 25 March 2016.Google Scholar
Chen, Dingding, and Wang, Jianwei. 2011. “Lying low no more? China's new thinking on the Tao Guang Yang Hui strategy.” China: An International Journal 9(2), 195–216.Google Scholar
Cheong, Suk-Wai. 2016. “Singapore's sovereignty ‘never a given’: Bilahari Kausikan,” The Straits Times, 30 January. http://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/singapores-sovereignty-never-a-given-bilahari-kausikan. Accessed 23 March 2016.Google Scholar
Chua, Beng Huat. 1998. “World cities, globalisation and the spread of consumerism: a view from Singapore.” Urban Studies 35(5/6), 981–1000.Google Scholar
Emmers, Ralf, and Tan, See Seng. 2011. “The ASEAN Regional Forum and preventive diplomacy: built to fail?” Asian Security 7(1), 44–60.Google Scholar
Fewsmith, Joseph. 2003. “Elite responses to social change and globalization.” In Howell, Jude (ed.), Governance in China. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers.Google Scholar
Foo, Jie Ying. 2016. “David Ong saga: powerful strayers may feel entitled,” The New Paper, 15 March 2016, http://news.asiaone.com/news/singapore/david-ong-saga-powerful-strayers-may-feel-entitled-says-counsellor.Google Scholar
Fukuyama, Francis, and Weiwei, Zhang. 2014. “The China model.” New Perspectives Quarterly 31(1), 60–83.Google Scholar
Ganesan, N. 2005. Realism and Interdependence in Singapore's Foreign Policy. New York: Routledge.Google Scholar
George, Cherian. 2007. “Consolidating authoritarian rule: calibrated coercion in Singapore.” The Pacific Review 20(2), 127–145.Google Scholar
Goh, Keng Swee. 1976. “A socialist economy that works.” In Nair, Devan C.V. (ed.), Socialism That Works: The Singapore Way. Singapore: Federal Publications, 77–85.Google Scholar
Goh, Robbie B.H. 2016. “The anatomy of Singlish: globalisation, multiculturalism and the construction of the ‘local’ in Singapore.” Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development 37(8), 748–758.Google Scholar
Gomez, James. 2006. “Restricting free speech: the impact on opposition parties in Singapore.” Copenhagen Journal of Asian Studies 23, 105–131.Google Scholar
Han, Fook Kwang, Fernandez, Warren and Tan, Sumiko. 1998. Lee Kuan Yew, the Man and His Ideas. Singapore: Singapore Press Holdings.Google Scholar
Ho, Benjamin. 2016. “Learning from Lee: lessons in governance for the middle kingdom from the little red dot.” East Asia: An International Quarterly 33(2), 133–156.Google Scholar
Huff, Gregg. 1995. “What is the Singapore model of economic development?” Cambridge Journal of Economics 19(6), 735–760.Google Scholar
Huxley, Tim. 2000. Defending the Lion City: The Armed Forces of Singapore. Crows Nest: Allen & Unwin.Google Scholar
Kassim, Yang Razali, and Ali, Mushahid (eds.). 2015. Reflections: The Legacy of Lee Kuan Yew. Singapore: World Scientific.Google Scholar
Kausikan, Bilahari. 2015. “A Cow Is Not a Horse.” Opening address at Youth Model ASEAN Conference. 15 October. https://www.iseas.edu.sg/images/centres/asc/pdf/A_Cow_isnot_Horse.pdf. Accessed 6 December 2017.Google Scholar
Kausikan, Bilahari. 2017. Dealing with an Ambiguous World. Singapore: World Scientific.Google Scholar
Koh, Kheng-Lian. 2011. “Urban and industrial environmental management – the Singapore model.” Environmental Policy and Law 41(2), 102–03.Google Scholar
Lampton, David M. 2014. Following the Leader: Ruling China, from Deng Xiaoping to Xi Jinping. Berkeley: University of California Press.Google Scholar
Lampton, David M. 2015. “Xi Jinping and the National Security Commission: policy coordination and political power.” Journal of Contemporary China 24(95), 759–777.Google Scholar
Lee, Kuan Yew. 2000. From Third World to First: The Singapore Story 1965–2000. Singapore: The Straits Times Press.Google Scholar
Leifer, Michael. 2000. Singapore's Foreign Policy: Coping with Vulnerability. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Li, Xing. 2015. “Interpreting and understanding ‘the Chinese dream’ in a holistic nexus.” Fudan Journal of the Humanities and Social Sciences 8(4), 505–520.Google Scholar
Lim, Selina, Yang, Wai Wai, Leong, Chan-Hoong and Hong, Jerrold. 2014. “Reconfiguring the Singapore identity space: beyond racial harmony and survivalism.” International Journal of Intercultural Relations 43, 13–21.Google Scholar
Liu, Mingfu. 2015. The China Dream: Great Power Thinking & Strategic Posture in the Post-American Era. New York: CN Times Books.Google Scholar
Liew, Mun Leong. 2015. “Lee Kuan Yew, truly the father of Changi Airport,” Business Times, 31 March. http://www.businesstimes.com.sg/opinion/lee-kuan-yew-dies/lee-kuan-yew-truly-the-father-of-changi-airport. Accessed 26 April 2017.Google Scholar
Low, Donald. 2014. Hard Choices: Challenging the Singapore Consensus. Singapore: NUS Press.Google Scholar
Marginson, Simon. 2011. “Higher education in East Asia and Singapore: rise of the Confucian model.” Higher Education 61(5), 587–611.Google Scholar
Mahbubani, Kishore. 2016. “The enduring ideas of Lee Kuan Yew,” The Straits Times, 12 March, http://www.straitstimes.com/opinion/the-enduring-ideas-of-lee-kuan-yew. Accessed 14 March 217.Google Scholar
Neo, Boon Siong, and Chen, Geraldine. 2007. Dynamic Governance: Embedding Culture, Capabilities and Change in Singapore. Singapore: World Scientific.Google Scholar
Ortmann, Stephan, and Thompson, Mark R.. 2014. “China's obsession with Singapore: learning authoritarian modernity.” The Pacific Review 27(3), 433–455.Google Scholar
Ortmann, Stephan, and Thompson, Mark R.. 2016. “China and the ‘Singapore model’.” Journal of Democracy 27(1), 39–48.Google Scholar
Pan, Wei. 2007. “The Chinese Model of Development.” Speech made in London, 11 October, http://fpc.org.uk/fsblob/888.pdf. Accessed 7 April 2017.Google Scholar
Pei, Shing Huei, and Kor, Kian Beng. 2012. “CCTV goes big on S'pore with 10-parter,” The Straits Times, October 28.Google Scholar
Quah, Jon S.T., Chan, Heng Chee and Seah, Chee Meow. 1985. Government and Politics of Singapore. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Pomfret, John. 2010. “U.S. takes a tougher tone with China,” Washington Post, 30 July. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/07/29/AR2010072906416.html. Accessed 30 March 2016.Google Scholar
Rodan, Garry. 2016. “Capitalism, inequality and ideology in Singapore: new challenges for the ruling party.” Asian Studies Review 40(2), 211–230.Google Scholar
Saich, Tony. 2011. Governance and Politics of China (third edition). New York: Palgrave Macmillan.Google Scholar
Schein, Edgar H. 1996. Strategic Pragmatism: The Culture of Singapore's Economic Development Board. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.Google Scholar
Schell, Orville, and Delury, John. 2013. “A rising China needs a new national story; to move forward, the country must move on from its emphasis on a century of ‘national humiliation’,” Wall Street Journal, 12 July.Google Scholar
Su, Fubing, and Tao, Ran. 2017. “The China model withering? Institutional roots of China's local developmentalism.” Urban Studies 54(1), 230–250.Google Scholar
Xi, Jinping. 2014. The Governance of China. Beijing, Foreign Languages Press.Google Scholar
Yamakage, Susumu. 2005. “The construction of an East Asian order and the limitations of the ASEAN model.” Asia-Pacific Review 12(2), 1–9.Google Scholar
Zhang, Lei. 2013. “The Google–China dispute: the Chinese national narrative and rhetorical legitimation of the Chinese Communist Party.” Rhetoric Review 32(4), 455–472.Google Scholar
Zhao, Suisheng. 2010. “The China model: can it replace the western model of modernization?” Journal of Contemporary China 19(65), 419–436.Google Scholar
Zheng, Yongnian, and Fewsmith, Joseph (eds.). 2008. China's Opening Society: The Non-state Sector and Governance. Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge.Google Scholar
Zhou, Tianyong. 2014. Zhongguomeng yu Zhongguo daolu (The China Dream and the China Path). Shanghai: Shehuikexue wenxian chubanshe. Translated by World Scientific Press.Google Scholar