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Find out more about our political system. Here is a curated collection of book chapters and journal articles, all available for free download courtesy of the authors and publishers, including local publishers Ethos Books and ISEAS – Yusof Ishak Institute.

ONE-PARTY DOMINANCE

Weakening of one-party dominance? — Lam Peng Er | What GE2020 suggests about the future of Singapore’s parliamentary democracy.

Lam Peng Er (2021) “A ‘New Normal’: Towards a One-and-a-Half Party System?”, Voting in a Time of Change, edited by Kevin YL Tan & Terence Lee (Singapore: Ethos Books). — DOWNLOAD

Democratic backsliding in illiberal Singapore — Netina Tan and Cassandra Preece | Accountability remains weak in Singapore’s technocratic, soft authoritarian regime. The PAP government has returned to relying on the law as a ‘fist in velvet glove’ to muzzle dissent and constrain information.

Netina Tan and Cassandra Preece (2022) “Democratic backsliding in illiberal Singapore”, Asian Journal of Comparative Politics. doi: 10.1177/20578911221141090 – DOWNLOAD

The PAP’s spectrum of political control — Pravin Prakash and Walid Jumblatt Abdullah | A key strategy explaining PAP dominance is its use of selective liberalisation.

Pravin Prakash and Walid Jumblatt Abdullah (2022) “The state prunes the banyan tree: calibrated liberalisation in Singapore”, Australian Journal of International Affairs, 76(4): 379–397. doi: 10.1080/10357718.2022.2040423” – DOWNLOAD

Democratic backsliding since GE2015 – Walid Jumblatt Abdullah | After GE2015, the PAP reverted to its familiar authoritarian stratagem. This was possible because of the absence of a strong and coherent opposition and genuine reformers within the ruling party.

Walid Jumblatt Abdullah (2020) “‘New normal’ no more: democratic backsliding in Singapore after 2015”, Democratization. doi: 10.1080/13510347.2020.1764940 – DOWNLOAD PRE-PRINT

Review of Singapore in 2022 | Singapore appears to be at a crossroads, with political changes at home being challenged by external developments.

Bilveer Singh (2023) “Singapore in 2022: Resolving Political Succession amid Growing Geopolitical Uncertainties”, Asian Survey. doi.org/10.1525/as.2023.63.2.347 – DOWNLOAD

VOTING PATTERNS

Race and gender: how important? — Netina Tan | Ethnic minorities proved electable; all-male GRC teams performed poorly.

Netina Tan (2021) “Ethnicity, Gender and the Vote in Singapore”, Voting in a Time of Change, edited by Kevin YL Tan & Terence Lee (Singapore: Ethos Books). – DOWNLOAD

The credibility factor – Steven Oliver & Kai Ostwald | The PAP has used its dominant position to reshape voter preferences in line with its comparative advantages.

Steven Oliver and Kai Ostwald (2018) “Explaining Elections in Singapore: Party Resilience and Valence Politics,” Journal of East Asian Studies, 18 (2): 129-156. doi: 10.1017/jea.2018.15. – DOWNLOAD PRE-PRINT.

On “freak elections” and “bookies predictions” – Cherian George | The Singapore electorate has been remarkably consistent in the way it uses its vote, but it can be manipulated by disinformation.

Cherian George (2017) “Freak elections,” pp.67-72 in Singapore, Incomplete: Reflections on a First World Nation’s Arrested Political Development.(Singapore: Woodsville News). – DOWNLOAD

POLITICAL PARTICIPATION AND MEDIA

Signs of youth disengagement — Weiyu Zhang | Youths aged 19-30 in 2020 showed lower attentiveness to political news as compared to the same age group in 2011.

Joshua Uyheng, Lynette Hui Xian Ng, Kathleen M Carley (2021) “Active, aggressive, but to little avail: characterizing bot activity during the 2020 Singaporean elections”, Computational and Mathematical Organization Theory. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10588-021-09332-1 – DOWNLOAD

Youth civic participation in GE2020 – Jin Yao Kwan | Singaporean youths engaged in both conventional and digital activism during GE2020 to raise awareness and take action. They continued their civic and political engagement beyond the election.

Jin Yao Kwan (2022) “‘Democracy and Active Citizenship Are Not Just About the Elections’: Youth Civic and Political Participation During and Beyond Singapore’s Nine-day Pandemic Election (GE2020)”, YOUNG. https://doi.org/10.1177/11033088211059595 – DOWNLOAD

Online media’s special role in GE2020 — Carol Soon and Neo Yee Win | Covid-19 restrictions meant no election rallies, giving digital media unprecedented importance in GE2020.

Carol Soon and Neo Yee Win (2021) “The Role of Digital Media in Singapore’s General Election 2020”, in Southeast Asian Affairs 2021, edited by Daljit Singh and Malcolm Cook (Singapore: ISEAS Publishing), https://doi.org/10.1355/9789814951753 — DOWNLOAD

Digital disinformation in Singapore’s GE2020 – Joshua Uyheng, Lynette Hui Xian Ng, and Kathleen M Carley | More than one-quarter of 240,000 tweets about GE2020 were found likely to be bots, raising concerns about manipulation of public opinion.

Weiyu Zhang (2022) “Political Disengagement Among Youth: A Comparison Between 2011 and 2020”, Personality and Social Psychology. doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.809432 – DOWNLOAD

Why election rallies matter – Terence Chong | Banned in 2020, election rallies are political performances different from other spaces like the mainstream media or public forums.

Terence Chong (2011) “Election Rallies: Performances in Dissent, Identity, Personalities and Power”, in Voting In Change: The Politics of Singapore, edited by Terence Lee & Kevin YL Tan (Singapore: Ethos Books). – DOWNLOAD

RULING PARTY DYNAMICS

Why the PAP needs a makeover – Donald Low and Cherian George | Choices facing the PAP leadership following the 2020 setback. 

Donald Low and Cherian George (2020) “Introduction: PAP v PAP: The Party’s struggle to adapt to a changing Singapore”, pp. 2-13 in PAP v PAP: The Party’s struggle to adapt to a changing Singapore, by Cherian George and Donald Low (Singapore: Authors). — DOWNLOAD

How Meet-the-People Sessions contribute to PAP resilience – Elvin Ong | The ruling party’s constituency service through MPSs help compensate for the weaknesses of other authoritarian institutions, just entrenching Singapore’s authoritarian system.

Elvin Ong (2015) “Complementary Institutions in Authoritarian Regimes: The Everyday Politics of Constituency Service in Singapore,” Journal of East Asian Studies, 15: 361-390. – DOWNLOAD

Oxleygate and Singapore’s elite cohesion – Cherian George | The Lee Family feud tested Singapore’s uniquely strong establishment unity.

Cherian George (2020) “Elite Cohesion,” pp. 94-101 in Singapore, Incomplete: Reflections on a First World Nation’s Arrested Political Development. (Singapore: Woodsville News). – DOWNLOAD

POFMA and what it says about the PAP – Cherian George | POFMA indicates that the next generation of PAP leaders are content to retain their governance model.

Cherian George (2020) “The Dogma behind POFMA,” pp.177-186 in Air-Conditioned Nation Revisited. Singapore: Ethos Books). – DOWNLOAD

GE2015 left the dominant party system intact – Kenneth Paul Tan | The PAP’s strong performance bucked the recent trend, showing the durability of its substantial performance legitimacy

Kenneth Paul Tan (2017) “Singapore’s Dominant Party System”, in Governing Global-City Singapore: Legacies and Futures after Lee Kuan Yew (Routledge). – DOWNLOAD

How the PAP changed and didn’t between GEs 2011 and 2015 – Cherian George | The 2015 election underscored the PAP’s ability to respond to electoral setbacks but also showed a reluctance to address systemic faults.

Cherian George (2020) “Future-proofing the PAP,” pp.169-176 in Air-Conditioned Nation Revisited. (Singapore: Ethos Books). – DOWNLOAD

OPPOSITION PARTIES

The opposition’s first thirty years in Parliament – Loke Hoe Yeong | Singapore’s post-independence opposition has a history of ups and downs that doesn’t conform with theories about democratic waves.

Loke Hoe Yeong (2019) “Introduction,” pp. i-xi in The First Wave: JBJ, Chiam & the Opposition in Singapore (Singapore: Epigram Books). – DOWNLOAD

What happened to the Town Council issue? — Jason Lim | The probe into the Opposition-held AHTC could have scared off voters, but did not.

Jason Lim (2021) “A Non-issue at GE2020: The Opposition, Town Councils and Grassroots Organisations”, Voting in a Time of Change, edited by Kevin YL Tan & Terence Lee (Singapore: Ethos Books). – DOWNLOAD

Explaining opposition party cooperation – Elvin Ong | What the conflict between the Workers’ Party and the National Solidarity Party n GE2015 says about opposition coordination.

Elvin Ong (2016) “Opposition Coordination in Singapore’s 2015 General Elections,” The Round Table, 105(2): 185-194, doi: 10.1080/00358533.2016.1154385 – DOWNLOAD

Why the Workers’ Party has succeeded where others failed – Elvin Ong and Mou Hui Tim | Opposition parties face a “credibility gap” that WP has dealt with better than others.

Elvin Ong and Moh Hui Tim (2014) “Singapore’s 2011 General Elections and Beyond: Beating the PAP at its Own Game,” Asian Survey, 54(4): 749-772. – DOWNLOAD

THE POLITICAL SYSTEM

Why Singapore needs an independent election management body – Netina Tan | The redrawing of constituency boundaries have sparked allegations of gerrymandering. The process calls for non-partisan technical experts, statisticians or judges.

Netina Tan (2015) “Pre-Electoral Malpractice, Gerrymandering and its Effects on Singapore’s 2015 GE,” pp. 169-190 in Change in Voting: Singapore’s 2015 General Election, edited by Terence Lee & Kevin YL Tan (Singapore: Ethos Books). – DOWNLOAD

Electoral boundaries: the backstory — Kevin Y.L. Tan | How Singapore’s controversial boundary drawing system emerged.

Kevin Tan (2021) “Delineation and Discretion: The Drawing of Electoral Boundaries in Singapore,” Voting in a Time of Change, edited by Kevin YL Tan & Terence Lee (Singapore: Ethos Books). – DOWNLOAD

Complex electoral manipulation is aided by voter apathy – Elvin Ong | The absence of simple electoral malpractice conceals other forms of manipulation, such as redistricting, which are not perceived by the electorate as violating the democratic principles.

Elvin Ong (2018) “Electoral manipulation, opposition power, and institutional change: Contesting for electoral reform in Singapore, Malaysia, and Cambodia,” Electoral Studies, 54: 159-171. doi: 10.1016/j.electstud.2018.05.006. – DOWNLOAD

How the PAP has shaped the parliamentary system – Kenneth Paul Tan | It has innovated on the Westminster model to balance representation and effectiveness, while legitimising and strengthening its authoritarian rule.

Kenneth Paul Tan (2013) “The Singapore Parliament: Representation, Effectiveness, and Control,” pp. 27-46 in Parliaments in Asia: Institutional Building and Political Development, edited by Zheng Yongnian, Lye Liang Fook, Wilhelm Hofmeister. (Routledge). – DOWNLOAD

How the political system has made it harder for the opposition to succeed – Kenneth Paul Tan | Several political innovations officially justified in terms that are supportive of democracy increased the PAP government’s capacity and legitimacy to control.

Kenneth Paul Tan (2011) “The People’s Action Party and Political Liberalization in Singapore”, in Political Parties, Party Systems and Democratization in East Asia, edited by Liang Fook Lye & Wilhelm Hofmeister (Singapore: World Scientific). – DOWNLOAD