The Ruling Elite of Singapore

Michael Barr explores both the political and the institutional logic behind the networks of power at work in one of Asia’s most prosperous countries, the city-state of Singapore. Barr charts the creation of a national elite in the 1960s, its consolidation as a multi-generational ruling elite in the 1980s, and the twists and turns of its trajectory thereafter. He argues that the contemporary networks of power are the result of a deliberate project initiated by Singapore’s first prime minister, Lee Kuan Yew, characterizing it as a brilliant but intrinsically flawed piece of social engineering.

This updated and revised edition extends the analysis of the 2014 edition through to the mid-2020s, arguing that the ruling elite has moved into uncharted territory thanks in part to the declining influence of the Lee family since the death of Lee Kuan Yew in 2015, but more so thanks to the declining standards of professionalism on display in the contemporary networks of power. As Prime Minister Lawrence Wong moves to stamp his personality onto politics and Cabinet, this book calculates the practical limits of any changes of direction through analysis of the patterns of elite recruitment and training that have been applied over recent decades.