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 89
... modern world but the general crises of the twentieth century radically reconfigured colonial patterns and as replacement elites sought to define and pursue their own political projects their actions shaped the postcolonial trajectories ...
... modern history of these cities reflects the turbulent progress of the unfolding shift to the modern world; trading exchanges; colonial rule; the catastrophe of East Asia's general crisis; decolonization; coldwar; and more recently ...
... global trading sphere – which the elite must manage as they plot a route to the future. The current polity is not separate from the modern world; it is firmly and deeply lodged within that world. The present pattern is the contingent ...
... modern world, through to 1975, when the reunification of Vietnam signalled the end of colonialism. The crisis unfolded at different times within the territories of the region but the descent into chaos in China was the first symptom ...
... modern world. However, empire was not sustainable; collapse was inevitable, and, with it, an extensive and dramatic reordering of economies, societies and polities. General. crisis;. the. opening. for. national. development. The British ...
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 |