The Neoliberal-Developmental State: Singapore as Case Study

Neoliberalism is often regarded as a type of economic practice advocating the primacy of the market and the rolling back of the Keynesian welfare state. Yet neoliberalism does not merely functions as economic tenets. There is also another side to it as a form of government or governmentality. This is the other less-attended to aspect of neoliberalism, and which this paper seeks to highlight. Through the example of the island-state of Singapore, neoliberalism is examined as a set of economic tenets and as a form of governmentality by considering the neoliberal political rationality that forms the basis for their existence. Once a developmental state, Singapore has undergone much structural changes to its economy in the past decade. The economy has gradually been deregulated, liberalised and privatised to conform more to the neoliberal model. However, existing interests embedded within the developmental state prevents a transition to a full-fledged neoliberal regulatory one. Instead what emerges is a type of hybrid state, in the form of the neoliberal-developmental state. It is hoped that by examining this notion of the neoliberal-developmental state, further light can be shed on neoliberalism and its impact on this tiny island-state and vice-versa.