International Quarterly of Foreign Relations

International Quarterly of Foreign Relations

Dominant Elites and Coalitions and Singapore's Developmentalist State Emerging: Results and Achievements

Document Type : Original Article

Author
Sajad Bahrami Moghadam
Assistant Professor in International Relations, University of Guilan
Abstract
The world has witnessed Singapore's transition from a third world country to a developed industrialized nation within three decades. This article focuses on explaining this transition, the findings of this article illustrate the role of elites and the dominant political coalition in the emergence of the developmentist state in Singapore, the dominant elites and coalitions have had enough Developmentalist mental content and preferences and development goals. The mental content that has made political elites more inclined towards development goals than any other. Singapore is a prime example where an interventionist state has directed an industrialization policy and strategy through various institutions to create conducive environment with supporting hard and soft infrastructure. Despite the dominant role of its state-owned enterprises (SOEs) in industrial restructuring, the role of industrial policy in Singapore has been obscured because there is an equally heavy reliance on direct foreign investment (DFI)by multinational corporations (MNCs) for capital, expertise, technology and markets. The state creates the environment through incentives and market-supporting facilities, leaving the MNCs and DFI to invest. Fora highly export-oriented (EO), internationally competitive, small, open economy, Singapore has neither the resources nor the market base for a more ambitious industrial policy.
Keywords
Political Elites
Developmentalist Coalitions
Rent-Seeking Elites
Industrialization
Singapore
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