The Future of Singapore: Population, Society and the Nature of the State (Routledge Contemporary Southeast Asia Series)

Description

Singapore, like many other advanced economies, has a relatively low, and declining, birth-rate. One consequence of this, and a consequence also of the successful economy, is that migrants are being drawn in, and are becoming an increasing proportion of the overall population. This book examines this crucial development, and assesses its likely impact on Singapore society, politics and the state. It shows that, although Singapore is a multi-ethnic society, migration and the changing ethnic mix are causing increasing strains, putting new demands on housing, education and social welfare, and changing the make-up of the workforce, where the government is responding with policies designed to attract the right sort of talent. The book discusses the growing opposition to migration, and explores how the factors which have underpinned Singapore’s success over recent decades, including a cohesive elite, with a clearly focused ideology, a tightly controlled political system and strong continuity of government, are at risk of being undermined by the population changes and their effects. The book also compares the position in Singapore with other East Asian countries, including Japan, South Korea and the Philippines, which are also experiencing population changes with potentially far-reaching consequences. Cover Half Title Title Page Copyright Page Table of Contents List of illustrations Acknowledgements 1. Singapore’s population dilemma Introduction: the dismal science Essay on the Principle of Population Demographic strategies and low fertility 2. Singaporean demography from past to present: fertility and migration trends Beginnings: Singapore before independence Population patterns of the new state Singapore today The race for population: towards a continued 'racialized migration’ Singapore’s Malay population dilemma: are Filipinos Malays? Emigration as a response to immigration Conclusion: Singapore’s Chineseness Notes 3. Singapore’s soft authoritarianism and population control Introduction Aristocracies and meritocracies Soft authoritarianism and Confucian culture in Singapore Legality and legitimacy The PAP and the Head Gardener MM Lee on family, marriage and migrants Conclusion: an end to political gardening? 4. Conscription, the Singaporean core and the question of loyalty Introduction The Singapore case: citizenship, manhood and belonging National Service and the question of loyalty: from CMIO to the ‘Singaporean core’ Malays in the army New immigrants Common predicaments, uncommon routes Conclusion Notes 5. Population problems, family policies and the naturalization of differentiated deservedness Introduction: the problem of population and family Population and family as national problems: entrenching state interventions and producing differentiated deservedness The meanings of fertility: gender and class inflections Marriage, employment and public housing: institutionalizing pathways to ideal families Support for narrow familial forms: solidifying the significance of gender and class Producing norms Marriage, housing, employment and the production of differentiated deservedness Public problems with private solutions: individualist orientations in a ‘communitarian’ society Looking at citizenship through Foucauldian and feminist lenses Individualism without (individual) rights: on thinkable and unthinkable alternatives Notes 6. Reproductive citizenship, governmentality and the theory of entitlement Introduction: reproductive citizenship Reproducing the nation Foucault and the governance of reproduction Pathways to citizenship NRTs and the social imperative of families Regulating artificial reproduction Conclusion: reproduction and governmentality Notes 7. Foreign talent and popular opposition to migration The xenophobia debate Space Integration and national identity Clash of culture Competition, diversity and loyalty Citizenship rights and diversity laws ‘High net worth individuals’ as talent Conclusion Notes 8. Conclusion Introduction: successful societies Singaporean success? References Index