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
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... settlement; it was driven by trade and shaped by multiple conflicts with contending European and local country powers. The process was haphazard in terms of the actual accumulation of particular bases and territory, but it was also ...
... settlements. Colonial empire generated riches for some, advancement for others and failures for many; 33 it overturned extant elites in the sub-continent. However, the Company's role was terminated by the 1857 Indian Mutiny; thereafter ...
... settlements drew the peoples of the region into the global capitalist system. It was a destructive business: the Dutch ... settlement in Shanghai in the autumn of 1843; trade grew and in time an informal British sphere extended along the ...
... settlement. In 1867–1941 the territory became a formal colony: a governor was appointed; civil servants in London and the island were key power-holders; powerful expatriate business was joined by local Chinese business. In the late ...
... Settlement. The city was caught up in the general crisis in China. An early centre for Communist Party activity, it was the site of a Kuomintang-inspired massacre of local leftists. It eclipsed Hong Kong in the 1930s as a centre for ...
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 |