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The Limits of Authoritarian Governance in Singapore’s Developmental State pp 71–91Cite as

Palgrave Macmillan

Albert Winsemius and the Transnational Origins of High Modernist Governance in Singapore

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Abstract

This chapter studies Winsemius as a strand of transnational technical expertise which helped forge high modernist governance in Singapore. James Scott’s (Seeing like a state: how certain schemes to improve the human condition have failed. Yale University Press, New Haven, 1998) concept of high modernism outlines the characteristics of state-planned mega-projects: they typically express a scientific-rationalist view of the world, seek to transform nature and human nature and work through emergency situations. These features are found in Singapore’s one-party state. Since 1959, the PAP has implemented ambitious reforms from above to shift the economy from entrepôt trade to manufacturing and services. These reforms were scientific-rationalist, designed by technocrats in the government and civil service trained in engineering, architecture, urban planning and economics. The reforms were also driven by a deep sense of emergency, attributed to Singapore’s enduring vulnerability as a city-state with no hinterland and a history of ethno-religious strife and political subversion. Singapore’s high modernism is illiberal, technocratic, crisis-driven, perpetually in reform, and transnational.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    United Nations S-0175-1798-05 Industrial survey Singapore Sing (1–2), Press release, 3 October 1960.

  2. 2.

    United Nations S-0175-1798-05 Industrial survey Singapore Sing (1–2), Memo, Application by the government of Singapore for an industrial survey team of preferably 5 members, undated.

  3. 3.

    United Nations S-0175-1798-05 Industrial survey Singapore Sing (1–2), Press release, 3 October 1960.

  4. 4.

    United Nations S-0175-1800-01 Industrial survey Singapore SING (130–1) Part A, Some suggestions for organising survey teams by Albert Winsemius, undated.

  5. 5.

    United Nations S-0175-1800-01 Industrial survey Singapore SING (130–1) Part A, Annex titled ‘Job descriptions U.N. experts for Singapore’, Letter from Winsemius to Wu, p. 1, 7 August 1961.

  6. 6.

    Australia A1838/318 Item 3024/4/1 Part I, Memo titled ‘Singapore: industrial development’ from Acting Commissioner J.E. Ryan (Australian High Commission) to Secretary, Department of External Affairs, Canberra, ACT, October 22 1960.

  7. 7.

    United Nations S-0175-1800-01 Industrial survey Singapore SING (130–1) Part A, Some suggestions for organising survey teams by Albert Winsemius, p. 1, undated.

  8. 8.

    Australia A1838/318 Item 3024/4/1 Part I, Memo titled ‘Singapore: industrial development’ from Acting Commissioner J. E. Ryan (Australian High Commission) to Secretary, Department of External Affairs, Canberra, ACT, October 22 1960, p. 2.

  9. 9.

    Britain, Prime Minister’s Office PREM 13/1833, Dr. A. Winsemius, Memorandum (Revised) to the government of Singapore on the economic situation After Singapore Day, 1965.

  10. 10.

    Britain, Prime Minister’s Office, 13/1833 Dr. A. Winsemius, Memorandum (revised) to the government of Singapore on the economic situation After Singapore Day, 1965, pp. 3, 8.

  11. 11.

    Britain, Prime Minister’s Office, 13/1833, Letter from Lee to Wilson, undated.

  12. 12.

    Britain, Prime Minister’s Office, 13/1833 Dr. A. Winsemius, Memorandum (revised) to the government of Singapore on the economic situation After Singapore Day, 1965, p. 6.

  13. 13.

    Britain, Foreign Office FO 1091/104, Memo from Moore to Bourdillion and Selkirk, June 5 1961, p. 2.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Western Australia, Perth, WA, Australia

    Kah Seng Loh

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  1. Kah Seng Loh
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Government and International Relations, University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia

    Lily Zubaidah Rahim

  2. College of Business, Government and Law, Flinders University, Adelaide, SA, Australia

    Michael D. Barr

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Loh, K.S. (2019). Albert Winsemius and the Transnational Origins of High Modernist Governance in Singapore. In: Rahim, L.Z., Barr, M.D. (eds) The Limits of Authoritarian Governance in Singapore’s Developmental State. Palgrave Macmillan, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-1556-5_4

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