Singapore in the Global System: Relationship, Structure and ChangeThis book tracks the phases of Singapore’s economic and political development, arguing that its success was always dependent upon the territories links with the surrounding region and the wider global system, and suggests that managing these links today will be the key to the country’s future. Singapore has followed a distinctive historical development trajectory. It was one of a number of cities which provided bases for the expansion of the British empire in the East. But the Pacific War provided local elites with their chance to secure independence. In Singapore the elite disciplined and mobilized their population and built successfully on their colonial inheritance. Today, the city-state prospers in the context of its regional and global networks, and sustaining and nurturing these are the keys to its future. But there are clouds on the elite’s horizons; domestically, the population is restive with inequality, migration and surplus-repression causing concern; and internationally, the strategy of constructing a business-hub economy is being widely copied and both Hong Kong and Shanghai are significant competitors. This book discusses these issues and argues that although success is likely to characterize Singapore’s future, the elite will have to address these significant domestic and international problems. |
From inside the book
Results 1-5 of 93
... colonial states, through to, more recently, a city-state, two great ... rule; the catastrophe of East Asia's general crisis; decolonization; coldwar; and more ... power of particular players has changed, rising or falling, so too has one ...
... power within East Asia. British holdings in China, Hong Kong, Malaya ... colonial centres, and the hitherto economically powerful British, Dutch and ... colonial pilgrimages, looked for change. The end of the Pacific War offered little ...
... colonial withdrawal delayed. In the informal sphere, elites simply moved out ... power of Britain. war. Shaping. national. trajectories: Singapore,. Hong. Kong ... colonial influence and in the postcolonial period of locally determined ...
... power-holders; powerful expatriate business was joined by local Chinese business. In the late nineteenth century the west coast of Malaya was drawn into the colonial sphere and Singapore prospered as established trading activities were ...
... colonial rule (traders, financiers, administrators and soldiers); indigenous elites responded actively; ordinary people adjusted; forms of life were remade over the generations; colonial pilgrimages introduced the novel ideas that ...
Contents
Impact and reply 40 | |
General crisis 58 | |
New trajectories 79 | |
Locating Singapore 100 | |
Trading cities 160 | |
Unfolding trajectories 197 | |
Notes 216 | |
Bibliography 263 | |
Index 275 | |
Other editions - View all
Singapore in the Global System: Relationship, Structure and Change Peter Preston Limited preview - 2007 |
Singapore in the Global System: Relationship, Structure and Change Peter Wallace Preston No preview available - 2007 |