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 91
... national development.17 In each phase distinctive patterns of life can be identified: an economic system, a social system, a cultural system and, running through it all, a pattern of political relationships of power. East Asia prior to ...
... national development generated further confusions; but in time a series domestic elites coalesced and thereafter shaped the post-war regional world. A series of national elites emerged. Their political projects initially centred on ...
... national. development. The British Empire in East Asia was assembled over some 300 or so years. In the years following the Great War there was some talk of reform but little was accomplished. The consensus amongst celebrants and critics ...
... national development. The starting point was a colonial port cut off from its natural hinterland; the government mobilized the population; an ideology of vulnerability, selfreliance and continual upgrading was affirmed; there was ...
... national development; rather, it has served the local business elites. The 1997 handover has not evidently altered matters. on Singapore and Hong Kong were central to the project of empire. There was also an informal empire. It marked ...
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 |