Breakthrough 2.0: Singaporeans Push For Parliamentary Democracy

Breakthrough 2.0: Singaporeans Push For Parliamentary Democracy

Author: Derek Da Cunha

Publisher: World Scientific

Published: 2022-01-07

Total Pages: 390

ISBN-13: 9811227292

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Some six decades of socialisation by the ruling People's Action Party (PAP) has ingrained in a majority of Singaporeans the instinct that it is not unusual to give up certain personal liberties for the greater good as long as the PAP State ensures the material well-being of Singaporeans. The general election of 2020 (GE2020) during the COVID-19 pandemic, put this social compact between the people and the State to the test. Significant job losses, wage cuts, and an erosion of personal wealth — due to measures to counter the pandemic — cut substantially into the PAP popular vote nationally, and resulted in an unprecedented 10 candidates from the opposition Workers' Party (WP) being elected to Parliament. GE2020 confirmed the trend from GE2011, when the WP first made a breakthrough, that Singaporeans will only accept a party in moderate opposition to the PAP. This narrative differs markedly from conventional wisdom.Breakthrough 2.0 explores the aforementioned phenomena. The book analyses critically the issues surrounding parliamentary elections in Singapore. It also focuses on issues not explored by many other observers, namely voter psychology; election processes; and, party branding. A comparative analysis of election practices and processes in other jurisdictions is also employed to determine where parallels can or cannot be drawn with the situation in Singapore.The author has had direct access to personalities across the political parties. Consequently, he utilises primary sources, supported by evidence, in sketching out backstories to events which exposes certain myths that were prevailing in social media in the months running up to GE2020.


Toward a Better Future

Toward a Better Future

Author: Fredriksen Birger

Publisher: World Bank Publications

Published: 2008-04-18

Total Pages: 226

ISBN-13: 0821373765

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'Toward a Better Future' provides a comprehensive analysis of education development in Singapore since 1965, giving particular attention to the strategic management that has enabled Singapore to transform its education and training system from one similar to that of many Sub-Saharan African countries four decades ago into one of the world's best-performing systems. It is one of a pair of concurrently-published books presenting materials originally developed for a 2006 study tour to Singapore and Vietnam for senior education officials from Cameroon, Ethiopia, Ghana, Lesotho, Madagascar, and Mozambique. The second book, 'An African Exploration of the East Asian Education Experience', presents five country studies, as well as regional, comparative analyses highlighting insights gained during the study tour and putting them in the context of Sub-Saharan Africa. Together, the two books aim to foster knowledge exchange between Sub-Saharan African and East Asian countries on good practices in the design and implementation of education policies and programs. By facilitating the cross-country fertilization of ideas between two regions with relatively limited contact in the past, these books fi ll a clear gap in the current literature on development practice in education.


China's Influence and American Interests

China's Influence and American Interests

Author: Larry Diamond

Publisher: Hoover Press

Published: 2019-08-01

Total Pages: 223

ISBN-13: 0817922865

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While Americans are generally aware of China's ambitions as a global economic and military superpower, few understand just how deeply and assertively that country has already sought to influence American society. As the authors of this volume write, it is time for a wake-up call. In documenting the extent of Beijing's expanding influence operations inside the United States, they aim to raise awareness of China's efforts to penetrate and sway a range of American institutions: state and local governments, academic institutions, think tanks, media, and businesses. And they highlight other aspects of the propagandistic “discourse war” waged by the Chinese government and Communist Party leaders that are less expected and more alarming, such as their view of Chinese Americans as members of a worldwide Chinese diaspora that owes undefined allegiance to the so-called Motherland.Featuring ideas and policy proposals from leading China specialists, China's Influence and American Interests argues that a successful future relationship requires a rebalancing toward greater transparency, reciprocity, and fairness. Throughout, the authors also strongly state the importance of avoiding casting aspersions on Chinese and on Chinese Americans, who constitute a vital portion of American society. But if the United States is to fare well in this increasingly adversarial relationship with China, Americans must have a far better sense of that country's ambitions and methods than they do now.


Singapore in the Malay World

Singapore in the Malay World

Author: Lily Zubaidah Rahim

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2010-11-09

Total Pages: 249

ISBN-13: 1134013973

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This new appraisal of their relationship offers groundbreaking new insights into the way in which the Malaysian and Singapore states see both themselves and each other.


Edinburgh Companion to the History of Democracy

Edinburgh Companion to the History of Democracy

Author: Benjamin Isakhan

Publisher: Edinburgh University Press

Published: 2015-03-24

Total Pages: 577

ISBN-13: 0748653686

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Re-examines the long and complex history of democracy and broadens the traditional view of this history by complementing it with examples from unexplored or under-examined quarters.


Constitutional Statecraft in Asian Courts

Constitutional Statecraft in Asian Courts

Author: Yvonne Tew

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2021-07-23

Total Pages: 273

ISBN-13: 0198716834

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Constitutional Statecraft in Asian Courts explores how courts engage in constitutional state-building in aspiring, yet deeply fragile, democracies in Asia. Yvonne Tew offers an in-depth look at contemporary Malaysia and Singapore, explaining how courts protect and construct constitutionalism even as they confront dominant political parties and negotiate democratic transitions. This richly illustrative account offers at once an engaging analysis of Southeast Asia's constitutional context, as well as a broader narrative that should resonate in many countries across Asia that are also grappling with similar challenges of colonial legacies, histories of authoritarian rule, and societies polarized by race, religion, and identity. The book explores the judicial strategies used for statecraft in Asian courts, including an analysis of the specific mechanisms that courts can use to entrench constitutional basic structures and to protect rights in a manner that is purposive and proportionate. Tew's account shows how courts in Asia's emerging democracies can chart a path forward to help safeguard a nation's constitutional core and to build an enduring constitutional framework.


Singapore in Global History

Singapore in Global History

Author: Derek Thiam Soon Heng

Publisher: Amsterdam University Press

Published: 2011

Total Pages: 322

ISBN-13: 9048514371

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This important overview explores the connections between Singapore's past with historical developments worldwide until present day. The contributors analyse Singapore as a city-state seeking to provide an interdisciplinary perspective to the study of the global dimensions contributing to Singapore's growth. The book's global perspective demonstrates that many of the discussions of Singapore as a city-state have relevance and implications beyond Singapore to include Southeast Asia and the world. This vital volume should not be missed by economists, as well as those interested in imperial histor.


Education in Singapore

Education in Singapore

Author: Yew-Jin Lee

Publisher: Springer Nature

Published: 2022-04-06

Total Pages: 434

ISBN-13: 9811699828

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This edited book is a comprehensive resource for understanding the history as well as the current status of educational practices in Singapore. It is a one-stop reference guide to education and educational issues/concerns here. There are three sections: Part 1 provides a sectorial overview of how education has been organized in this country such as preschool, special needs, primary and secondary, and adult education divisions. In Part 2, contributors critically delve into issues and policies that are pertinent to understanding education here such as underachievement, leadership, language education, assessment, and meritocracy to question what Part 1 might have taken for granted. Part 3 contains the largest number of contributors because it offers a scholarly examination into specific subject histories. This section stands out because of the comparative rarity of its subject matter (history of Physical Education, Art, Music, Geography Education, etc.) in Singapore.


Political Development in Hong Kong

Political Development in Hong Kong

Author: Ngok Ma

Publisher: Hong Kong University Press

Published: 2007-01-01

Total Pages: 319

ISBN-13: 9622098096

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This book reviews the political development of Hong Kong before and after 1997, in particular the evolution of state-society relations in the last two decades, to analyze the slow development of democracy and governance in Hong Kong after 1997. This book is a most comprehensive analysis of the multi-faceted changes in Hong Kong in the last 20 years. The scope of changes analyzed included state functions and institutions, political changes such as party development and development of the Legislative Council, and social changes such as social movements, civil liberties, etc. It helps the reader understand the crisis of governance of Hong Kong after 1997, and the difficulty of democratic development in Hong Kong over the years. The book covers: changing state institutions in Hong Kong in the last few decades; party development in Hong Kong; the changing role and function of the legislature in Hong Kong; the evolution of social movement and movement organizational forms; media freedom, civil liberties, and the role of civil society; and theoretical discussions concerning governance problems and state-society relations in Hong Kong. Special emphasis is placed on how these changes brought about a new state-society relation, which in turn brought governance difficulties after 1997.