Conference: The Ruling Elite of Singapore: Networks of Power and Influence
Events
The Center for International Economics, Faculty of Economics Chulalongkorn University and the Research Institute on Contemporary Southeast Asia (IRASEC) are co-organizing a conference on August 26th, 2013, by Dr. Michael Barr.
Since the dramatic General Elections of 2011, Singapore has been engaged in a period of unprecedented political change that has no clear destination, but is just as clearly not finished yet. The modest but unrelenting rise of the political opposition and the parallel emboldening of civil society have encouraged the ruling party’s critics to hope for dramatic change. Democratization and regime change are now discussed in public discourse as a serious prospect.
In the face of this enthusiasm, this conference focuses on the prime institutional and political reality that stands in the way of such change : the ruling national elite. This elite is still in place and its power is so well entrenched across the institutions of both state and society that it transcends the outcomes of mere elections. Even beyond its institutional basis, this network of nearly absolute power is based on personal networks of power, influence and patronage that have been developed and entrenched over more than five decades.
The centrepiece of the conference is a paper by Dr Michael Barr of Flinders University, Australia, based on his forthcoming book – commissioned and funded in part by IRASEC – in which he researched the historical development and current state of the ruling elite of Singapore.
Date : Monday August 26th, 2013
Time : 1.30 – 4.00 PM
Venue : Room 219, 2nd Floor, Faculty of Economics, Chulalongkorn University
Contact IRASEC : Mr. Jiradej Mahawannakij (administration2 irasec.com)
Contact MAIEF : Miss Wanwadee (maiefcu yahoo.com)
